


Standing up

by SSAerial



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Friendship, Gen, Kagami has enough of the GoM's bullshit, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-17
Updated: 2015-11-09
Packaged: 2018-01-16 01:07:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 52,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1326019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SSAerial/pseuds/SSAerial
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the doctors told Kagami Taiga, the best high school basket player in Japan, he could never walk, let alone play basketball, he accepted it and moved on because the alternate of what could’ve happened would’ve been a thousand times worse. He left his world, expecting never to go back, and is given an opportunity of a lifetime that could allow him to play again. The catch? He has to make sure the Generation of Miracles won’t become big headed monsters this time around... Damn. This is going to be harder than he thought.</p><p>(HIATUS, NOT CONTINUING, READ NOTES FOR BETTER EXPLANATION)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fic I’ve written for this account, and also the first Kuroko no Basket fic I’ve written since I’ve only started watching the anime recently. The future is AU, so it is inevitable that Kagami is going to be different. Please check it out!
> 
> EDIT: I am sorry to say that due to my waning interest in this story and have pretty much moved on to other fandoms and fics that I'm currently working on, I'm officially putting this story on hiatus and will not be resuming the story any time soon. I'm so sorry for the fans that have been waiting so patiently for a new chapter that probably is not going to come. Thank you, and I hope you read on to my other fics and move on as I have.

** Chapter 1 **

 

_"Kagami-kun, we're going to be late."_

_"Oi Kagami, don't dissapoint me at the game tomorrow. Touou is taking the Winter Cup, you can bet on that."_

_"KAGAMI-KUN! KAGAMI-KUN!"_

_"Fuck! What do you mean we can't go in there?! I'm his damn senpai!"_

_"I-I apologize. But nobody is allowed to go in the emergency room at the moment."_

_"Oh God... Hyuuga, he's going to be fine, right? This is Bakagami we're talking about!"_

_"N-No! There must be a mistake! Kagami-cchi-!"_

_"Please repeat what you said. Now. Or would you like to speak with my lawyers for giving false analysis about a patient?"_

_"There is no mistake. I cannot refute my statement. You're friend's injury is irreversable."_

He will never be able to play basketball again.

**-A-**

Kagami groggily opened his eyes, squinting at the sudden bright light that was assaulting him. Eye twitching in irritation, he glanced at the digital clock and groaned when he saw the time. The number five blipped in reminder, as if mocking him for waking up so early.

Seeing no point to going back to sleep, Kagami reluctantly sat up and threw the warm covers to the side. Looking to his feet, he absentmindedly watched his toes as he flexed them repeatedly. It has become a habit over the past year for him to check every morning, as if reassuring himself that he really was able to do this action.

He knew it was silly to worry, but after what he went through, he didn't think it was unreasonable.

It's been a whole year since he had shot up from his bed, panting and sweating like crazy with his mind completely disoriented. Being so out of it, it had taken him a moment to realize he could feel his legs down to his toes again, a sensation he hadn't felt in years. Registering this, he had desperately clung on to his shaking legs, sobbing his heart out like a newborn baby because damn it,  _it worked._

He had traveled to the past and was given another chance to do things right.

It had taken some time to get used to the idea, along with using his legs. He'll never forget how many times Alex had teased him over those first few weeks as he tried to walk without tripping.

He's sure his teacher has enough blackmail material to last a lifetime, a small price to pay for his troubles. Tatsuya was no better.

Of course, he still hadn't told them why since he had made an oath to the man- no,  _deity,_  not to.

It made sense. He has read and watched enough movies to figure out it would be complicated for anyone to know their own futures. He didn't even want to  _think_ about the repercussions that could have on the timeline. His brain was hurting enough as it was already.

After getting over  _that_  hurdle, he immediately had asked his teacher to privately train him. He needed to get better before he returned to Japan if he wanted to beat the Generation of Miracles again. Only this time, he wasn't going to wait until high school.

It had surprised his teacher but she had agreed readily enough, though her contemplating gaze had sent an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach.

The moment she agreed, she had made sure training would be hell on Earth. Even Riko's practices looked meek in comparison.

Shot after shot. Match after match. It was an unending circle of exercises and games against street players and even high school basketball clubs Alex managed to find through her vast connections in the basketball world. Since it was LA, those connections were pretty impressive.

As for the matter with Tatsuya, Kagami had managed to come up with a somewhat shaky truce with him. It had taken a few months, especially since Kagami had become rapidly stronger due to the extra training he was putting up with.

The black haired teen had told him outright after Kagami had won against him that he wanted to be rivals, giving the same stupid reason he had given the first time around.

Kagami had flatly refused.

Last time this happened, Kagami had been afraid of saying anything in fear of angering the boy he looked up to as an older brother figure. Now, he had absolutely no problem in telling him that what he said was stupid, pointing out they could be both. Tatsuya had predictably been furious and frustrated by his answer and had stormed away.

It wasn't until he had somewhat calmed down after a few weeks did he quietly say he'll think about it. Months passed until the teen had slowly warmed up to the idea and finally agreed, smiling a bit as he did a fist bump with Kagami in the end.

Kagami was happy and relieved about this development, since it meant at least one of his worries was gone from the equation.

Now he just had to deal with the Generation of Miracles, which was sure to be a downright headache.

After stretching out his long body on the bed, he got up and headed for the bathroom, planning to get ready to go out. After washing up and changing into a black t-shirt and short pants, he hopped himself to the kitchen while still in the process of putting on his socks with a jacket slung over his shoulder.

He made his way into the spacious, clean kitchen and began to fry three eggs and five pieces of bacon, two slices of bread also in the toaster. He didn't really feel like making something elaborate.

It took him less than ten minutes to inhale his food and to wash the dishes, years of doing it on his own coming into play. When done, he grabbed on to a worn out basketball that had been next to the front door before slipping on his Michael Jordan sneakers and heading out.

The apartment he was living in was paid off by his father, who was away on another business trip for a couple of months. The place wasn't as big as his old apartment in high school, but it was still pretty expansive for a ninth grader. The best part though, was how close the public basketball court was, something he was sure the old man had been aware of when choosing the location.

Jogging toward the court for a few minutes, he couldn't help but smile. Even after all these years, he's still the basketball loving idiot everyone had mocked him for. Just thinking about playing made his blood pump in anticipation.

When he reached the court, he started to stretch out his arms and legs, kicking in the kinks. After the brief warm up, he started to slowly dribble the ball before quickening his pace, trying to envision an imaginary enemy in front of him. His mind immediately supplied Aomine, his forever rival. In his old life, even after the incident had happened, Aomine had been one of the few who hadn't treated him like an invalid, something Kagami had appreciated. And even without basketball in the equation, they had argued and fought over everything, bantering without care as each tried to one up the other.

Picturing the player wearing a cocky, taunting smirk, he sped up and tried the best as he could to recreate one of the many practice matches he had in the past with him. It was stimulating, not to mention difficult with how many moves the bastard can make with his formless play.

By the time he felt winded from the intense, one sided battle, the sun was peaking higher till it was in the sky, warning him that the rest of the human population was waking up. Glancing at his watch, he cursed at the fact it's been two hours since he came here, making him dangerously late for his first day of school.

Grabbing his things, he sprinted home. It was a breeze for him to tackle the stairs with ease when going up the apartment, the elevator too slow for him to take. Bursting in, he hurriedly took a shower, changed into his uniform, and grabbed his bag on the way out in records time, hastily locking the door as he left.

 _'After years of being a coach in high school, you would think I would learn by now not to lose track of time and be late.'_ He wryly berated himself as he ran.

Spotting the bus stop, he wanted to snarl at the fact that the bus was  _leaving without him._

Like  _hell_ he was gonna let that happen.

So without hesitation, he widened his strides until he was next to the bus that was slowly speeding up and  _jumped_ , using his ridiculous athletic ability to close the gap and managing to bang against the side of it like a lunatic. He was sure it left a dent, but he didn't really give a damn.

The moment he did that, the bus instantly stopped with the tires sliding at the sudden hard pull of breaks, the sound making Kagami wince. Maybe what he did wasn't a good idea.

The thought hardly had time to flicker through his head when the door of the bus slid open with a portly middle aged man popping out, his eyes dangerously narrowed.

"What the hell were you thinking you crazy nut?! Do you want to get yourself killed?!" the man roared, advancing on him like an angry bear.

Kagami sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, inwardly slapping himself for his impulsive move. Though really, it wasn't  _his_ fault the metal was weak enough for a middle schooler to be able to damage it. Seriously, if  _he_ could do it, he didn't want to imagine what a car could do.

He glanced up and nearly groaned when he saw a bunch of students he recognized from their uniforms as Teiko, staring and pointing at him from the windows. Terrific. Now the whole friggin school is going to probably gossip about this and label him as a weirdo.

Not that he really cared about his reputation. It just would've been easier not to get noticed so early on.

_'You're 5'8 with red hair who has a tendency to get into trouble, intentional or not. Going anonymous is Kuroko's job, since you sure can't to save your life.'_

_'Shut up brain.'_ he mentally grumbled.

"I can pay for the damages." he offered. He gave a low bow and hoped the man could sense his sincerity. "I'm really sorry oyaji-san."

With his head down, he didn't see the man's face turning even redder from the improper language.

"Oyaji?! I'll have you know I'm in my thirties thank you very much!" the man huffed.

_'Yeah right.'_

"Sorry. Won't happen again."

The man eyed him for a long moment before finally sighing, scratching his bald head. "Fine, okay kid. You can get in the bus," His gaze sharpened. " _After_ you pay double the fee."

Since he had damaged the man's vehicle, Kagami knew he was getting off lucky. Oh the advantages of being a reckless teenager again. "Sure."

After paying off the hefty price, Kagami climbed up the stairs with the driver closely behind him, mumbled complaints barely audible. Looking around, he was relieved to find there was a seat in the back that was open next to the window. Ignoring the heavy stares, he strode over to the seat and plopped himself down. The basketball practice along with the run had tired him down somewhat, though not enough to affect him later.

He closed his eyes. A nap seemed like a good idea right now.

Unfortunately, the moment of peace didn't last long.

Five minutes since he started to doze off, he heard someone's voice.

"Uh… Excuse me."

Irritated, he instantly glared at the nervous looking second year who flinched at the scalding, red eyes directed at him. The kid had mousy brown hair and wide, forest green eyes, his face structure childish. Kagami couldn't tell what height he was, but could guess that the guy wasn't that tall from the way his neck visibly strained when his chin was resting on top of the back of his seat. He grudgingly admitted to himself that he had some guts to be talking to him from the way the younger man seemed to gulp down his fear before he spoke again.

"Are you from Teiko? I noticed you're uniform so I wanted to ask…" the untold message that everyone else was thinking this was clear. Kagami grunted.

"Yeah. What of it?"

"Well, uh, I've never seen you around, so I was wondering whether you were a new transfer student."

Kagami raised an eyebrow. "I'm from the states. Just got back less than a couple of weeks ago." He knew the grape vine was going to eat this up, but it didn't really matter. It wasn't like he was going to keep it a secret, not to mention that the fact was probably going to be announced when he got to his classes. Just the thought of having to stand in front of people and introduce himself made him feel annoyed.

The new revelation seemed to erase some of the trepidation the other student felt. "Whoa! Really? That's pretty cool." He said excitedly. "Hey, is it true that the basketball players there are really tall? Like, over six feet I heard!"

That perked Kagami's interest.

"You play basketball?" he asked, not letting his interest show through his nonchalance. The kid shook his head.

"No, but Teiko's basketball team is amazing this year." His voice held a note of pride. "We have the Generation of Miracles on our side."

Kagami didn't react to the name. "Generation of Miracles huh? What are they like?"

While Kuroko had told the Seirin team years ago about the story behind the geniuses, it still wasn't enough for Kagami to picture what they were like as middle schoolers. He knew Aomine had been similar to him back then, unlike his future grumpier, more cynical self, but it wasn't enough to go on. Fishing for info was a good way to get a feel on how he should go about approaching them.

The kid shrugged. "Well, all of them are pretty weird to be honest. The captain Akashi is a perfectionist but he seems to be the most normal."

Kagami wanted to laugh outright from this. His experience with psycho Akashi begged to differ.

From the way the kid raised his own eyebrow, he seemed to have sensed Kagami's disbelief. Thankfully, the guy brushed it off and abruptly stuck out his hand in front of Kagami's face. He gave a bright smile as the red head blinked.

"My name is Amaya Masato. I hope we can be friends." He said the last part warmly, causing Kagami to scoff.

"Oi, you shouldn't say something like that right off the bat. People can take advantage of that." Kagami smirked. "However, I always like a direct intro. Kagami Taiga." He shook his hand and gave a crooked grin. Amaya grinned right back.

"Huh. You're actually a lot nicer than you look." he chirped as he let go.

"So I don't look like a delinquent ready to set this whole bus on fire? Gee, that's a surprise." Kagami said flatly.

Amaya guffawed.

"Well, you did ram the bus while it was  _still moving._  That tends to give off a bad impression for the lot of us." Amaya pointed out. "Besides, other than the funny eyebrows, you're red hair really sticks out."

Kagami scowled, which seemed to increase the second year's amusement. "I noticed."

"Well if it makes you feel any better, Akashi has red hair too. And the rest of the Generation of Miracles have odd hair coloring. One guy even has  _purple_  hair.  _And_ he's 6'1."

Kagami gave a non-commented noise as Amaya glanced outside. "Oh, we're almost there."

Sure enough, only a few seconds passed before the bus stopped at a bus stop just near the school gates. Kagami leaned away from the seat and stood up along with Amaya, making the teenager's eyes bulge.

"Wow, you're pretty tall." The guy sounded impressed. Just as Kagami predicted, the top of the second year's head only managed to reach Kagami's shoulders. "Wait, do you play basketball?"

Kagami nodded. Both got off the vehicle, Kagami avoiding the driver's glare, and walked toward the school.

Amaya looked frighteningly delighted.

"Really? Then join the basketball club-"

"No thanks."

The second year faltered in his steps, looking at Kagami stunned.

"What? But, why not?" he demanded.

Kagami sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He had been conflicted with this issue a while back when he had decided to enroll in Teiko. The reason behind it was simple. If he joined the club, there was no way the feeling of rivalry would fester between him and the group properly, which was something that needed to happen.

As for the reason why he chose Teiko in the first place, there were several.

One, he didn't want to go through the hassle of finding a way to somehow meet the Generation of Miracles without fighting the whole team on court. He definitely had confidence in his abilities through Alex's training, but there was just no way he could beat the team on his own. Maybe with the uncrowned kings, but even that was unlikely, not to mention all of them went to different schools. So beating them at their own game in a school tournament was crossed out.

Second, not only did he have to beat them, he also had to  _befriend_ them. Surpassing the geniuses was one thing. It was quite another to get them to listen to reason to  _not_ smash their opponents' moral and treat them like trash. Getting closer to them can give him more insight on how they turned into monsters the first time around, and give them support if they needed it.

Sometimes, an outside point of view is necessary in order for them to know what they should and shouldn't do. Something that had went wrong with Kuroko since he had been a part of them, along with Momoi who had been their manager.

Third…

Well, personally, he just really wanted to see them as soon as possible.

It's been a whole year since he had seen any of his friends, especially Kuroko. Tatsuya had lessened the feeling of loneliness, but it hadn't been enough. He missed being with his old friends in Seirin. He even missed picking fights with the Generation of Miracles who needed to have their heads bashed sometimes to lessen their ego. Sure he hadn't been able to play basketball for years, yet that hadn't weakened the bonds he had with them, or the warm feeling he got when he knew he had people he could count on. And now…

All of that was gone.

He'd be damned if he wasn't going to get those bonds back.

Instead of saying all this, Kagami just said, "I have my reasons."

Amaya looked like he wanted to argue, but didn't get the chance when they reached the gates.

The school looked like something you'd see off a brochure. The grass was green and neatly mowed, the walls didn't look faded from age as if the school was still new, and everything from the windows to the non-littered grounds was spotless. Kagami had half expected it, yet it still startled him how impeccable the school image was. Kuroko hadn't been kidding when he said Teiko was elite. It almost made the grueling, torturous school exam he had to take worthwhile.  _Almost._

Amaya must've noticed him staring because the kid had the balls to jab him in the stomach to snap him out of it. He looked annoyingly humored, as if he knew what he was thinking.

"Come on. We got to get to the board to see what our classes are."

Kagami grumbled but followed the shorter teen to where most of the students were gathered, all trying to move past the crowd. With one, intimidating scowl, most of the students scampered out of the way as he passed easily by.

Looking like a delinquent had some uses.

Amaya followed his lead and stayed close behind, eyes wide as if marveling over Kagami's power over the mass.

When they reached the board, Kagami looked carefully at the list, turning a blind eye to the people pointing at his looming figure. When he managed to find his name, he resisted the urge to bang his head against the wall.

Underneath the number 3B, was his name in clear, unmistakable print.

_Kagami Taiga-3B_

To his aggravation, there was a name all too familiar a couple lines down.

_Midorima Shintarou-3B_

He reread the list several times to make sure he wasn't hallucinating before he slumped his shoulders in defeat. He should've expected this, yet had naively hoped that he wouldn't have a class with one of them. It would make things much harder for him to pass by unnoticed until he had time to plan.

Instead, he now had one of the sharpest minds of the Generation of Miracles in his class who would definitely not pass him as someone normal. The rumor mill wasn't going to help either.

Someone up there must really hate him.

Thankfully though, the other Miracles including Kuroko (which sucked because he was the one person who he didn't mind sharing a class with since Kuroko probably wanted to be overlooked too) were all in different classes, some isolated completely and some paired together. He noticed Momoi was completely separate like Akashi from the others. Tucking the knowledge away for later use, he absentmindedly noticed Amaya looking at the board intently before beaming and throwing a fist in the air.

"I got Room 2B! That means my room is next to his!" he exclaimed.

Kagami furrowed his brows. "'His?'"

Seeing his confusion, Amaya waved a hand dismissively. "A friend of mine is in 2C, so that means I can check up on him any time I want." he rolled his eyes. "He's really lazy when it comes to school work, so I help him out sometimes. I never let him cheat off my homework or something like that, but I'm always half tempted to. He's completely hopeless when it comes to his own education."

Kagami flashbacked to how many times Kuroko had gotten frustrated over his lack of understanding in any subject other than basketball. His blank expression may fool everyone else, but Kagami had long become immune to it and saw the outward signs of Kuroko getting close to ripping his own hair out.

Kagami shook off the nostalgia and instead instinctively patted Amaya's head.

"Good for you. Maybe I'll get to meet this friend of yours one day."

For some reason, the kid's cheeks turned red before he slowly nodded under Kagami's lowered hand. "Uh, sure, why not."

Baffled by the reaction but uncomfortable to ask, Kagami awkwardly gave a last pat before slipping off. Maybe he had acted too comfortably. It was an old habit he used to do to people shorter than him.

"Right, well, I guess we should go to class." Kagami glanced around to see that the students had managed to get near the board enough to see their own classes, though a wide berth was still around the red head. Shaking his head at this, he slapped Amaya's back in a friendly manner and started to walk away from him toward the school. Without turning around, he raised a hand over his shoulder lazily, waving slightly.

"See you later Amaya."

He could almost hear the smile in the shorter student's tone when he talked back.

"You too, Kagami-san."

**-A-**

Finding the classroom in the gigantic school had been surprisingly easy. He only had to ask someone in the hallway to direct him to the correct classroom and lead him there. Though the sneaking glances the girl kept doing was kind of bothersome, he managed to ignore it, something he was doing a lot today.

Nodding thanks to the stuttering girl when they reached his destination, he was surprised to see he was one of the earliest arrivals, only a few people waiting as well.

That was a first.

Shrugging, he was just about to enter in when he felt someone bump next to him at the doorway, not even pausing to go to his seat. Just when he was about to snap at the rude student, he froze when scarlet eyes met impassive green that was seen through a thin layer of glass.

"Pardon me."

His voice was cold and neutral and so different yet the same to his much more human future self that for a moment, a thirty year old version of Midorima Shintarou overlapped his vision. He could almost smell the antibiotics the doctor was always surrounded by at the hospital.

Right until a now slightly frowning teenager snapped back into place, sending bitter disappointment in his heart.

"D-don't worry about it." he inwardly winced at the stutter while Midorima simply gave a curt nod and went to his seat. Still feeling somewhat ashamed of his reaction, he sat at the back well away from the green haired student. He wanted to bury his head in his arms because he probably made a terrible impression on the Miracle and he was severely regretting it.

How the hell did he lose control over himself like that? That hadn't happened before with Tatsuya or Alex or even his parents.

_'You know why.'_

Clumping his hair with his fingers, he thought about how much effort Midorima's future self had helped him in the hospital. In his awkward way of caring, he had brought medical books way too complicated for Kagami to understand and had explained what exactly happened to his spine when the car had hit. He didn't have to do it, yet he had still plundered on in a clinical tone, sometimes stopping to make sure Kagami was following.

Kagami had been aware that the tsundere probably got teased for visiting from Takao, which would've no doubt provoked the man.

Yet he still continued. For him.

And as girly as it sounded, Kagami had been touched by the gesture.

Only this wasn't the same Midorima he was going to have to deal with from now on. This wasn't the man he had known for nearly fifteen years.

Suddenly, the idea of making friends with the Generation of Miracles looked harder than he initially thought.

"Kagami Taiga?"

At the call of his name, he jerked his head up to see a woman standing in front of his desk, looking anxious. Startled by her sudden appearance, he schooled his expression to not show how unnerved he was.

"Yes?"

The woman looked relieved.

"Oh thank god! Why didn't you immediately come to the teacher's lounge? I was waiting there with your schedule and everything!"

Kagami visibly quirked up one split eyebrow and summoned said schedule out of his jacket pocket. He was unfazed by the woman's growing blush that was furiously burning her cheeks.

"Already have it. I had a meeting with the principal during the weekends and he gave it to me. Didn't he tell you?" he questioned. The one advantage of having an adult mind and being used to paperwork was how ridiculously simple enrolling and setting himself up in Teiko was. His father hadn't even been involved in the legal process of it.

He watched with some bemusement at the flustering teacher before finally taking pity on her. She must be new to the job.

Also, he wasn't unaware of the curious audience that was unabashedly listening in on the conversation. The room was half filled since he sat down.

He also didn't miss that Midorima was watching them too with narrowed eyes, though he was a lot more discreet at it than the rest.

Kagami stood up and grabbed his bag. "Why don't we talk about this somewhere else? I'm sure the principal hadn't explained all the class rules you probably know."

The woman vigurously nodded. "Y-Yes! You're right." he felt uncomfortable by the relieved expression on her face. She was looking at him as if he was a messiah. "Just follow me."

Trailing behind her, they left the class in a fury as the students began to conspire together over the mysterious new student who has transferred to Teiko Middle School.

**-A-**

"Hey, did you see that guy with the red hair? He looked like some kind of gangster!"

"No way! Seriously? Wish I could've seen that."

"That's why you shouldn't have been late!"

"The way he handled the teacher was really rude! Who does he think he is?"

"It's decided. He is definitely my new crush this year!"

"With those eyebrows? You must be joking!"

"Oh come on! You know I like strong, tall men. It's the reason why I watch basketball in the first place."

"What about Midorima-san?"

"What about him? He's just plain weird."

Midorima's eye twitched repeatedly from the growing loudness that was spreading in the classroom. The last comment just added to his annoyance. Even during his last two years in Teiko, he had never seen the classroom so lively as it was today.

All because of Kagami Taiga.

With his sharp, red eyes and almost predatory aura, the name suited him.

Midorima briefly frowned again as he recalled how the transfer student stared at him as if he was a ghost, face pale. The reaction bothered him for some reason, no matter how many times he tried to convince himself otherwise. It was both nagging and intriguing; a combination he did not want to get close to yet was drawn in by. Clutching onto the small, stuffed teddy bear that was the lucky item for Cancers today, he was shaken out of his musings when he heard the school bell ring with announcements.

They still weren't back yet.

After a few minutes passed after the morning news which Midorima for once didn't listen to, he saw the door open as the two entered in.

The teacher seemed to have calmed down from her earlier frantic behavior while Kagami stood next to her with an utterly bored expression that could rival Murasaskibara. He had his bag sloppily thrown over his shoulder, earning a point of disapproval in Midorima's books.

The way he held himself was a puzzling mixture of slouching yet not arrogant looking while doing so. And while he honestly did look uninterested at first glance, his eyes had briefly flitted around the classroom as if taking category of the students, pausing at Midorima for only a second.

"Hello class. My name is Honda Chiharu and I will be your sensei this year. I hope we can get along!" she greeted. All the students murmured back a greeting as she gave a tentative but hopeful smile. Looking towards the student next to her, she put a hand on his shoulder in what Midorima assumed to be reassuring.

"This is Kagami Taiga. He is a transfer student from the states who has moved back to Japan." whispers filled the room at this piece of information. Honda-sensei continued. "Kagami-kun, could you please introduce yourself properly to the class?"

Kagami gave a curt nod before stepping up, straightening his slouched position.

"My name is Kagami Taiga and I'm from LA." he gave a short but proper bow. "Please take care of me."

There were some mutters of confusion over the 'LA' part, which Midorima understood as Los Angeles, California. With just knowing that, Midorima could already conclude that he had grown up in a city like environment, which might make him less ignorant than others unless his personality differed from this conclusion.

"Right," the teacher clapped her hands, catching everybody's attention. "Since Kagami-kun is new to this school unlike the rest of you, it is only appropriate for someone to show him around if possible until he gets the hang of things."

A flash of a grimace passed Kagami's face at these words. Clearly he disagreed.

"Would anyone like to volunteer?"

A few of the female population shot their hands up eagerly while none of the boys did. This time, a real glower etched on to the red head's features at this development.

"Anyone? No?" the teacher repeated. She had obviously seen how Kagami had reacted when the girls volunteered. "If that's the case, I will have to pick a person myself."

Midorima was quickly losing interest to this topic. With a quiet huff, he pulled out his notebook and pencil case from his bag, readying himself for class to start once all this absurdity was over. Little did he know, that plan was soon going to crash.

"Midorima-kun? Is it okay if you could do it?"

The whole room seemed to come to a grinding halt as everyone whipped their heads around to see how Midorima would respond. Anyone who knew the green haired student's reputation would've never asked that. He was known for his cold and factual disposition that went along with his sharp, meticulous mind. Unless one wanted to be downgraded to someone with a five year old mentality with only words, it was best to just leave him alone.

Apparently, the new teacher never got the memo.

Kagami jerked his head so fast to Honda that Midorima almost thought he snapped his neck. He looked alarmed.

"And why should I waste my time to do such a thing Honda-sensei? While you may not be aware of it, I have better things to do."

"So does everyone else." she surprisingly agreed. "However, from what I've seen of your grades, you are in the top three when it comes to education, which is a sign you will not slack off at the task I am giving you. Also, since the classes are much more difficult in Teiko than a normal high school, Kagami-kun is going to need help to adjust. Not only that, since he is from the states, he is not as familiar to the Japanese language and will need some help to translate words he won't understand. I have heard you're the best next to Akashi Seijuro in English."

Though his face gave nothing away, he was inwardly cursing.

From the looks of it, she had probably chosen him from the start and only went through the motions in order not to be accused of doing so. She had definitely done her homework.

Seeing the challenging look with a hint of triumph on her face, he had clearly underestimated her.

He pushed his glasses up. "I'm too busy since I'm a regular in the Teiko basketball team."

He knew he was just giving excuses now. She knew it too.

"Your grades prove you'll manage." she pointed out.

Midorima closed his eyes. Damn.

Seeing the defeat on Midorima's face, Honda beamed.

"Since Midorima-kun has an empty seat next to him, why don't you sit over there Kagami-kun?"

Midorima opened his eyes just in time to see a flicker of panic pass Kagami's face for a second, enough for him to think he almost imagined it.

Kagami slowly walked towards him wearily before he took his seat, dropping his bag carelessly next to him. Their seating arranged with Midorima having a window seat while Kagami's desk touched right next to his. The tables were wide enough so that each could have their own personal space, a fact Midorima was quite thankful for.

He saw Kagami glance at the teddy bear but the red head didn’t comment at all from this and turned his head away.

Midorima suddenly realized he never introduced himself to his new charge, which was not acceptable. They were probably going to interact a lot with each other, so it was only logical.

With that in mind, Midorima stiffly stuck out his hand to Kagami while looking away, adjusting his glasses as he did so. Kagami's eyes widened.

"Since we'll be working together for some time, I will introduce myself as we are now acquaintances. I am Midorima Shintarou."

Because he had turned away, Midorima missed how Kagami's eyes were no longer wide but instead full of exasperation and fondness.

Kagami shook his hand.

"Pleasure to meet you Midorima."

After the formal greeting, Honda loudly announced that class was in session and for everyone to pipe down and sit in their seats. Midorima turned away with every intention to ignore the transfer student while fully expecting not to succeed.

To be honest, Midorima had pegged Kagami as someone who wouldn’t be able to stand being ignored for long periods of time. From the way he had acted towards the teacher, he had been sure that the red head was going to be a handful. His clear lack of respect for authority mirrored Aomine’s, which Midorima had personally despaired at. Surprisingly, he had been wrong.

During the whole duration of class, Kagami had not once tried to interact with him. As if sensing Midorima’s reluctance to talk, he quietly took notes as Honda lectured the class and didn’t even glance at him as he worked. It was a pleasant development that he for once was glad to know he had been wrong at.

As the two of them jotted down Honda’s verbal teachings, Midorima felt his mind uncharacteristically wonder about the person next to him. Usually, he never took interest in other people excluding the Generation of Miracles who had a presence that was impossible to ignore. It was too much of a hassle and he disliked people in the first place, so why try?

Kagami Taiga, however, was an exception.

Midorima, who was more aware than others about Teiko’s school system, knew that getting into Teiko when from a foreign country was extremely difficult. The entrance exam the student had to take was actually more difficult than the normal exam one would take to get accepted in their first year. The context of language used was easier, but the actual problems were actually up to a high school level. The school board purposely did this to ensure only the best of the best would be accepted. The motto, “winning is everything,” was applied to everything in Teiko, not just basketball.

So the fact that Kagami had been accepted either meant he was from a well to do family, or was actually smarter than Midorima gave him credit for.

His academics, however, wasn’t the only interesting thing about him.

With his height and build, Midorima was half tempted to ask if he played any sports. It wouldn’t be at all surprising if he did. He was actually around Midorima’s height, a trait not many could achieve.

Thoughtful, he vowed to himself to question the red head later on this subject and maybe help him join some clubs at school. After all, he _was_ supposed to help him adjust and socialize with his peers. He didn’t miss the irony that he of all people was stuck with this particular task. His diligent attitude however wouldn’t let him do anything less when it comes to completing his duties with hundred percent swiftness and efficiency.

Hours passed like this until the lunch bell finally rang, immediately causing the students to leap out of their seats to leave. The material they were reviewing may be easier than they were used to since it was only the first day, but that didn’t change how boring it was to sit around and pay attention to subjects they had no interest in.

Midorima calmly stood up, chair screeching as he did. His back was still straight as a pole, appearance impeccable unlike the yawning students who were eagerly leaving. Looking to his charge, he waited patiently as Kagami stretched in his seat, legs spread until it touched the back of another student’s chair. His white suit uniform was a bit wrinkled but other than that, he looked completely unruffled.

“Is that the lunch bell?” Kagami asked, still not knowing all the rules to Teiko.

Midorima nodded.

“Yes.” he answered. “It’s a thirty minute break.”

Seeing Kagami nod in understanding, Midorima glanced at the red head’s bag and realized that he couldn’t see a lunch box anywhere in sight.

“Did you bring lunch today?”

Kagami blinked and nodded.

“Yeah.” He jerked a thumb towards his bag. “It’s in there.”

Midorima stared at him and then the bag, which he noticed was actually bulging out oddly. Which was weird since he shouldn’t have brought many things due to the fact it was only the first day.

Kagami, who saw the questioning look on his face, gave a small smirk before opening the bag up and taking out his lunch.

It took a moment for Midorima to process what he was seeing before he gave the red head an incredulous look.

“ _This_ is your lunch?” he couldn’t help but sound the sure disbelief he was feeling.

The packed ‘lunch’ was actually more than one. Three large, wrapped up subs that were as long as half his arm, two snack bars, an apple, and a can of juice was sitting innocently on top of Kagami’s desk, taking up more than half the surface of the table.

Midorima stared and _stared_ at the impossible sight before shaking his head. The amount he was seeing was absurd. It was even more than what Aomine brought. Hell, he wouldn’t be surprised if Kagami could beat Murasakibara in an eating contest!

Then again, he might be just overestimating Kagami’s abilities due to shock.

He turned his head to see Kagami giving him a slight grin, as if he was amused by the _perfectly normal reaction_ Midorima was exhibiting. Glaring at him through his glasses and feeling a bit embarrassed over his moment of lost composure, he simply looked away and grabbed on to his clearly smaller lunch bag and teddy bear before marching out of the classroom.

“I will be eating in the courtyard.” He announced, still avoiding Kagami’s amused gaze. “Since you still do not know the school grounds, I suggest you follow quickly if you don’t want to get lost.”

He didn’t even check to see if Kagami was following him as he left, though he was able to identify heavy footsteps behind him.

Midorima tried his best to dismiss the pointing and stares that was for once not directed at him, but Kagami. Anyone with half a brain would think it’s weird to carry _that_ much food. Midorima kept expecting one of his teammates to spot him due to how many people were whispering and gawking at them. Fortunately, they managed to get outside without much interference.

The location he picked was a nice and private place that only he and Akashi knew. It was in the left courtyard where the trees were, giving shade and able to hide people from the view of others. He and Akashi often played Shogi under one particular cherry blossom tree that was by far larger than the rest. It made him slightly uncomfortable to bring Kagami to the dwelling, but unless he wanted to be hunt down by the other Miracles, this was the best place to not be disturbed. Akashi would probably guess he was here, but the captain was respectful enough to not interfere in Midorima’s business.

Kagami’s red head contrasted with the surrounding green, like a small fire wandering around a forest. It made him easy to track every time the new student paused to look around their surroundings.

“Are all of them sakura trees?” Kagami didn’t seem to notice he muttered this out loud as Midorima gave a curt nod.

“Correct. Since its April, it is likely they will bloom soon in the next few weeks.”

Kagami hummed in agreement, arms jostling from the weight of the food he was carrying. He looked fairly ridiculous as his face was almost obscured by one of the subs, red hair poking out in Midorima’s line of sight.

He almost smiled at the image.

They finally came to a stop at the usual tree Akashi and him sat around and looked to Kagami who halted as well.

“We’re here.”

Kagami only needed those two words to carelessly drop to the ground floor, not seeming to care that his pants would probably suffer from the sudden action. The packs of food bounced from the impact as Kagami put the food next to him. Midorima was much more cautious and slowly sat down, not wanting to leave dirt on his black pants.

Carefully placing the teddy bear away, he opened his lunch bag and took out a plain looking sandwich and took a small bite, not really giving it any attention as he watched the spectacle in front of him.

Kagami had nearly ripped off one of the wrappers to the sub as he gave a large bite, chomping it down like a pro. The lightning speed he was eating was both amazing yet disconcerting, like a show you watch at a carnival where the man easily swallowed fire like magic. In minutes, one sub was already finished which made Midorima wonder where the hell it all went. Like Houdini, it just seemed to disappear in the bottomless pit known as Kagami Taiga.

He must’ve stopped eating at one point because Kagami actually screeched to a stop to look at him, swallowing down the last of his three sandwiches.

“Something wrong?” the teenager questioned, as if he hadn’t just eaten three enormous subs in under ten minutes as if it was easy as breathing.

“Other than the fact I have no idea how you were able to eat all that, no. Nothing at all.” he stated flatly.

Kagami shrugged, nonchalant. “I have a big appetite.”

“That is not enough to explain how it is possible to have a black hole for a stomach.”

“It was only three sandwiches.”

Midorima gave him a look.

Kagami huffed and grumpily munched on to one of the snack bars. “Stop being so uptight and just eat your lunch.”

Midorima’s glare was frigid. “Do not lecture me.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Irritated, Midorima bit into his lunch and silence reigned between the two for a moment. After finishing his lunch without interruption, Midorima remembered the questions he had meant to ask during break and turned to face Kagami who was by now languidly drinking his juice.

“Kagami-san-”

“Kagami.”

Midorima blinked. “What?”

Kagami raised an eyebrow. “Call me Kagami. All the formalities and stuff is kinda stuffy to me.” He smirked at Midorima knowingly, which instantly irked him. “Besides, I can tell you’re not the type that’s polite to others either.”

It startled him a bit that the red head was observant enough to spot this. He didn’t expect that from him. Seeing the stubborn look on the red head’s face, he sighed. “Fine, Kagami. I have been meaning to ask you something.”

“Yeah?” the red head leaned against the tree casually. “Well spit it out.”

Biting back the urge to tell him to watch his language, he spoke. “Since I am in charge of your stay here until you get adjusted, I am inclined to ask you if there are any school activities you might have an interest to.”

Kagami cocked his head to the side thoughtfully for a moment before shaking his head.

“Nope. None whatsoever.”

Midorima narrowed his eyes, sensing there was more to his casual answer. He was definitely hiding something. Before he could question him even further, Kagami abruptly cut him off.

“Are you in any clubs?” he questioned. Midorima had to swallow the urge to call out on Kagami’s change of subject but decided to let it go. It wasn’t like he could force the student into doing anything. Joining a club was voluntary after all.

“The basketball club.” he said. Kagami slowly nodded.

“You’re part of the Generation of Miracles, right?”

Midorima was too late to cover up how startled he was by the point black assumption. His gaze sharpened as suspicion overtook him.

“How did you know that?”

Kagami wasn’t fazed by the icy tone.

“Well, I heard it from this kid at my bus that the Generation of Miracles all have really weird hair color. So I took I guess when you said the basketball club. It wasn’t a big leap.”

Midorima wanted to ask who exactly made such an imbecile comment, but didn’t. It was unlikely he would ever encounter this ‘kid’ anyway. Glancing at his watch, he was surprised to see lunch was already almost over. The conversation must’ve gone on longer than he thought.

Standing up, he neatly pushed his glasses up and carried his lunch bag with his other hand.

“Lunch is over. We must return back to class.”

Kagami nodded in agreement and gathered up the wrappers and empty juice can before he also got up. As they walked back, Kagami suddenly spoke.

“By the way, I meant to ask. What’s up with the teddy bear?”

Midorima had half expected this question and was more surprised by how long the red head took to finally ask it.

“It is a good luck charm for Cancers today from Oha Asa.” He said stiffly, preparing himself for the inevitable skeptic reaction. He hoped Kagami wasn’t the type to laugh though or else he really might just go up to Honda and demand her to switch babysitters.

“Oh, okay.”

… _What?_

Midorima physically stopped in his tracks to stare at the red head. “What?” he repeated verbally.

Kagami looked at him as if _he_ was the one acting strange. “Okay.” He said slowly, as if he was some kind of neanderthal. “You’re into that kind of stuff. Big deal.”

Midorima rapidly blinked at him, not really sure how to react. Nobody has ever brushed it off like it was nothing. He had no clue how to feel about Kagami’s abnormal response.

“I… see.” he almost didn’t recognize his own voice by how uncertain it sounded. Kagami actually had the gall to grin at his tone as he clapped a hand on his shoulder.

“Look, I’ve met some pretty weird people in my life, so what you’re doing doesn’t really bother me. As long as this hobby of yours doesn’t make you look like a complete idiot or something, I’m not gonna say anything about it.” his grin widened. “Besides, what’s life without a few interesting people in it?”

Midorima stared at him before he shook his head, shaking himself out of his funk. Putting up a glare, he slapped the red head’s hand away and walked right past him.

“Don’t say such nonsensical things. I will not tolerate you hindering me any further.”

He heard Kagami shuffle next to him, a smirk playing on his lips.

“You’re the one who stopped walking in the first place.”

Midorima decisively did not comment at this accusation. He was too busy trying to fight down the small smile that was threatening to take over.

Maybe this situation won’t be so bad after all.

**-A-**

“Ah man! Where the hell is that Midorima anyway?”

“Perhaps Midorima-kun had to talk to the teacher today.”

“On the first day? Maa, the teacher must be pretty harsh if that’s the case. I feel kinda bad for Midorima-cchi.”

“I wonder if there are cookies today in the cafeteria…”

“Oh! Oh! I actually _did_ see something like that Muk-kun! I’ll check the school lunch menu to be sure.”

Akashi resisted the urge to sigh at the rowdy group’s manners. He was thankful that they all decided to eat on the roof today since it wouldn’t give students the chance to approach them.

…Well, _almost_ all of them.

The captain frowned as he checked his watch again just to be sure. It had been twenty minutes since lunch started, and still no sign of Shintarou anywhere. It was uncharacteristic for the shooting guard to desert the group without an explanation, no matter how much he wanted to. It was a bit worrying, but maybe he was just overthinking things. Out of all the Miracles other than Tetsuya and Akashi himself, Shintarou was one of the more responsible members of the group. He’s sure to have a good reason not to show up.

Daiki, looking peeved, turned toward Akashi.

“Hey Akashi! Did Midorima mention anything to you?”

Akashi closed his red eyes and shook his head. “No, but I am certain he has a good reason for skipping.” Akashi’s face darkened slightly.

_‘He better have.’_

The group shuddered from the sudden loss of temperature, making Momoi laugh nervously.

“W-Well, I can always check to see why if you want.” she smiled and gave a small wink.

Akashi nodded. He was confident in her ability to gain that information easily. It’s what made her so useful to the Teiko basketball team in the first place. When she left, everyone waited for her return until she did a few minutes later, bursting out through the door out of breath.

Daiki growled slightly.

“So? What did you find Satsuki?”

Gulping in a deep breath of fresh air, she nearly burst when she said her next words.

“Midorin is babysitting a transfer student in his class!”

There was a long stunned silence before the group erupted simultaneously.

_“WHAT?!”_

Momoi nodded, a bewildered expression also on her face, showing she was just as confused as them.

“According to a third year in Midorin’s class, the teacher somehow roped Midorin into looking after a foreign exchange student from the states until he got adjusted. Apparently, from what the spectators said, Midorin didn’t have a choice in the matter.”

Atsushi actually paused in his snacking to give Momoi a curious look.

“How did the teacher manage that?”

Despite the situation, Momoi actually gave an evil smile. “She forced him. Apparently, her reasoning was enough to stop even Midorin.”

Ryouta looked impressed. “Whoa, I wish I could’ve seen that!”

“Then where is Shintarou?” Akashi cut to the chase.

“The students say they were heading for the courtyard, but not exactly where.”

Akashi narrowed his eyes at this as he crossed his arms. So Shintarou had led the new student to _that_ place. He must’ve wanted to talk to him badly if he had been willing to do that.

“Who’s this transfer student then?” Daiki questioned. There was an excited gleam in his eyes. “Does he play basketball?”

Tetsuya looked to his best friend flatly. “Aomine-kun really is a basketball idiot.”

“Shut up Tetsu!”

Momoi frowned. “I don’t know yet. But I’m definitely going to find out.” There was a determined, steeled look on her face as she said this. Akashi gave a curt nod.

“If it’s not much trouble, could you directly come to me when you do?” a light smirk danced about on his pale features.

“I’m curious to know who seemed to have caught Shintarou’s attention so much.”


	2. Chapter 2

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   **Disclaimer: I don't own anything in Kuroko no Basket**

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**Note:** Thank you for the reviews! I didn't expect such a quick response. I was nervous about the reactions to this fic since I literally only started watching KnB less than a month ago. Seriously. I just had to write this fic after noticing nobody tried something like this.

Also, I made some embarrassing mistakes that one of the reviews pointed out. (Thanks, truly. I wouldn't have noticed otherwise)

So if it isn't too much to ask, please ignore my mistakes and act like you didn't see anything. It'll make my life a lot easier.

Also, someone had asked in one review whether there will be slash. As I've said to that person in my PM, no. This fic is completely GEN and will not focus too much on romance. A few canon popular pairings will be implied, though not too much into detail. Purely FRIENDSHIP all the way.

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_"Alright you brats. Same time tomorrow for practice or I'll hunt you down myself. I know where you all live, so don't you dare try something funny!"_

_The players gave long, suffering groans as their muscles ached from the whims of their demonic basketball coach, Kagami Taiga. The man might be in a wheelchair, but his merciless, almost sadistic attitude lost any pity points from the basketball team a long time ago._

_Kagami watched them go, rolling his eyes when he listened to their complaints._

_Good grief. If Riko was here, she would have a field day with this bunch. Hellish didn't even begin to describe what she thought was 'training.' Hyuuga Junpei, her husband, could attest to that._

_Kagami shuddered at the thought and rolled his way around the gym to see if there was anything those lazy kids missed while cleaning up._

_Sure enough, there was a lone basketball at the far corner, making Kagami sigh. Slowly going there, he screeched to a halt in front of the orange ball and leaned foward to lightly push the ball towards the wall with the tip of his fingers. Following the object until it thumped against the wall, Kagami hit the object with his unmoving foot to make it bounce against the surface, giving it enough momentum for Kagami to catch it in the air._

_Smiling in triumph at his small accomplishment, he just put the ball on his lap before he felt his phone vibrate in his hoodie's front pocket. Taking out the device, the smile turned into a full blown grin when he saw the name 'Kuroko' flash brightly on the screen._

_Touching the touch screen phone on the blinking green 'Answer' box, he put the phone to his ear._

_"Yo Kuroko! It's been a while since you've called."_

_"Kagami-kun." even through the receiver, Kagami could hear the warmth in his shadow's voice. "I apologize for taking so long. I've been busy with the kindergarteners these days. They are quite a handful."_

_"Yeah, I can imagine. I've visited you plenty of times, remember?" Kagami thought back with amusement to how the kids had prodded at his chair and asked him how fast he could go. Kuroko had been mortified. "And don't apologize you idiot. Geesh, I thought you got rid of that habit."_

_"I'm sor-... Very well Kagami-kun."_

_Kagami could hear a 'Oi Tetsu, stop hogging the phone a damn second!' that sounded suspiciously like Aomine in the background. Kuroko's response of, 'This is my phone to begin with Aomine-kun.' confirmed his guess._

_"What are you doing with that bastard?"_

_Kuroko ignored the squawk of indignation behind him and spoke with that monotone voice of his. "We are eating at Magi Burger. We bought you takeaway so you could eat later."_

_"Ah, thanks. I've been busy all day with those brats so I forgot to eat."_

_In his high school years, what he just said would've been unheard of. But because of the fact he couldn't walk anymore, he had become more careful in his diet so he wouldn't become fat due to the lack of exercise that was limited for him. Not to mention he was thirty years old and not that young anymore._

_Kagami narrowed his eyes._

_"Kuroko, you're not just drinking another vanilla milkshake, are you?"_

_The guilty silence that followed afterwards was enough answer for him._

_Kagami pinched the bridge of his nose. "Kuroko, we've talked about this. You can't eat so little for a meal! You need actual substance or else you're gonna stay skinny and girly looking forever!"_

_"I do not look girly." was Kuroko's sullen retort._

_"Yeah, keep telling yourself that."_

_"I will only listen if you go to Midorima-kun's appointments. I've heard you've been skipping out for several weeks."_

_Kagami winced at the accusing tone and looked down. Fifteen years and the shadow still knew how to guilt trip him like no one else._

_"I've been busy. The checkups will have to wait until the Winter Cup." Kagami's eyes burned with resolve. "I won't settle for anything except the top."_

_There was a pause on the other line. "You're pushing yourself too hard." Kuroko said softly. "I won't stop you, but please be careful."_

_Sensing the fearful undertone his partner was using, Kagami sighed and closed his eyes._

_"Okay, okay. I'll go to the next one in a few days." Kagami scratched his nose. "Besides, Midorima might actually kill me if I don't."_

_"Thank you Kagami-kun." the red head slightly blushed at the warm tone Kuroko was using. From the way he was talking, it was like Kagami was doing something for him, not the other way around._

_"Sh-Shut up! God, you always have to make things all weird whenever we talk! If you keep doing that, I'm hanging up!" Kagami managed to fluster out. He could hear the blue haired man actually chuckle when he said this._

_"Alright Kagami-kun. Aomine-kun and I will stop by the school to pick you up. Don't be late."_

_"Fine. I'm guessing the guy is going to drive my car to my house when you get here?"_

_"Yes."_

_Kagami nodded to himself. "Got it. Make sure to tell that bastard he better not scratch my car like last time when he does."_

_"It was one time!" he heard Aomine exclaim loudly enough for him to hear. One end of his lips twitched as he listened to Kuroko scold him for drawing attention on them. Kagami hung up._

_Stuffing the phone back in his pocket, he glanced down then up from the basketball to the basket, a niggling urge slowly taking root._

_'Just one basket and I'll leave.' he thought, starting to back away to give himself some distance from the basket. He took position, tension building, and made the shot from the free throw line._

_SWISH!_

_The sound brought a brilliant grin on the former power foward's face._

_Before he knew it, he got the ball again and took another shot. It got in without hitting the rim._

_Again and again he made countless throws, sweat pouring down his arms and chest until he forgoned the notion to keep score. He lost track of time as he got lost in the repetitive exercise, lost in the sport he had never stopped loving even after the use of his legs were stolen from him. The heartbreaking smile only grew at ever shot, despite how draining the game was._

_Watching the last basket he flicked go through, he noticed how his arms were shaking from the exertion he put on them. It's been far too long since he last played._

_Wiping off the sweat with his now wet t-shirt since he had taken the hoodie off a while ago, he saw that the ball was dribbling away from him._

_He heaved himself to go forward, pushing his arms to wheel himself over as they quivered. The sweat, however, kept making his hands slip off the rubber, making him growl in frustration. Finally, he grabbed for the hoodie and used the fabric to keep his grip on the tires, slowly making his way to the orange ball._

_When he did manage to make it there, he slapped his forehead at the realization he was going to have to bounce the ball against the wall in order to be able to hold it. At the moment, he was way too tired for that._

_Ignoring this fact, he stubbornly leaned toward the ball to try to somehow get it and was failing miserably at the task. After a few futile efforts, he finally had to laugh at himself derisively at the situation he was in._

_"This is pathetic..." he muttered to himself, feeling the old wistfulness for his legs return._

_"Indeed. This is honestly the saddest thing I have ever come to witness. And trust me, I've seen a lot in my lifetime."_

_Kagami's eyes widened at the voice that came out of nowhere. He had locked the doors. He was sure of it._

_He turned around._

**-A-**

"Oi, Midorima."

"What is it?"

Kagami twitched and pointed at him accusingly. "Don't you have people you'd rather hang out with other than me?"

The shooting guard paused when he took out his bento, brows furrowed in confusion.

"What brought this issue on?" Midorima's eyes shifted into something a bit darker. "Do you not want me here?"

Kagami raised an eyebrow. Midorima had always lacked in the social interactions department. The underlying tone of accusation and a hint of edginess gave away how much Kagami's answer meant to him.

The red head knew that the shooter was cautious when it came to others. Being called odd and abnormal does some damage to a person's self-esteem, no matter how well the Miracle was able to hide it behind his indifferent poker face.

"No. I just thought you'd rather hang out with your other friends more."

He didn't need to voice out who those 'friends' were. Really, the fact that Midorima was here at all was nothing but a small miracle itself. For the past two week, the shooting guard had been eating lunch with him every day without fail at the same courtyard as last time.

True to Midorima's prediction, the cherry blossoms did bloom. The pink flowers were eye-catching and beautiful, a sight Kagami had missed while he had been away in America. It felt like forever since he had come back to Japan, making him appreciate some of the aspects of the country he hadn't noticed before.

Again, living his life again put a lot of things in perspective for him.

As for Midorima, he was a bit suspicious despite himself of Midorima's choice to hang out – though the stubborn mule would probably never phrase it in such a way and make abstract excuses if ever accused of it – with him. He could tell that Midorima wasn't bothered by his presence, yet the guy never did anything without a reason. For all he knew, he could just be doing this because Akashi ordered him to.

Something in Kagami's gut though told him otherwise. He didn't act as reluctant if that was the case and Kagami didn't sense anything wrong when he was around him. He sheepishly thought to himself to give Midorima a break.

Besides, it was way too much work to figure out the superstitious shooter's motives. He sure as hell hadn't been able to with his older self.

Midorima took an almost dainty bite out of his sandwich before speaking. "I'm eating here because I choose to. I would probably go insane if I'm with those imbeciles during my every free time."

_Ah._

"So basically… I'm you're scapegoat." Kagami reasoned bluntly.

Midorima scowled.

"I wouldn't word it like that. Besides," the green haired man pushed up his glasses superiorly. "I do not mind your company. You're not as annoying as the rest of the student body."

"Gee, thanks." Kagami said dryly.

"You're welcome."

At his response, Kagami honestly didn't know whether the guy actually knew he was being sarcastic from how solemnly he spoke.

"So, do they at least know where you are right now?"

Midorima sighed, looking more and more aggravated from the questioning.

"What I do is my own business." Midorima said evenly. "I did tell them at practice I won't be attending lunch with them for a while. I do not know if they know of my activities, but I'm highly confident that they do, especially with Momoi in the equation. They can be annoyingly nosy that way."

Kagami stifled a snicker at the long suffering look the usually composed teenager had on. "They sound like a handful."

"Indeed." The teenager almost sounded forlorn when agreeing.

Kagami, while still amused by his green haired companion's reaction, was feeling relieved.

During the whole time he first made acquaintance with Midorima, funny enough, he hadn't encountered anyone else from the Generation of Miracles and it had started to become unnerving. With Akashi's sure curiousity over him (he had no doubt that what Midorima said about Momoi was true), he had expected a direct confrontation soon after his first lunch with Midorima.

However, nothing seemed to have happened yet, which kept Kagami on his toes.

As for his relationship with Midorima, it was going definitely smoother than the first time he had met him in the previous timeline. The tsundere was acting, dare he say it, positively friendly.

Probably because he wasn't acting like a hot tempered idiot this time around. It made him wonder what could've happened if he hadn't made such terrible first impressions on the Generation of Miracles.

Well, except Aomine. He had a feeling he wasn't going to get along with him even now  _at all._

Watching Midorima as he ate his lunch, he suddenly was reminded of something.

"Ah!" he thumped his fist onto the palm of his hand as he inwardly berated himself for forgetting. He turned away from Midorima's questioning look and started to rummage through his large shopping bag that held his lunch for today. "I almost forgot!"

Midorima gave him a weird look at the sudden action and viewed him with narrowed eyes.

"What?"

Kagami turned to him with the quirk of an eyebrow. "You don't have a drink with you today, right?"

Midorima's eyes flickered in surprise.

"Yes. What does this have to do with anything?" he asked slowly.

Kagami smirked and brought out a beverage from the depth of the bag proudly. Right on the label of the can in big, Japanese letters was 'Red Bean Soup!' on the top, making Midorima's eyes go wide.

Seeing the look on his face, Kagami's smirk grew bigger.

"I noticed you were constantly drinking this during every lunch time for the past week, so I was surprised to see you didn't bring it today. When I was passing through the halls, I saw this in one of the vending machine so I bought one for you. You've been helping me a lot, so I thought I could buy this as a way of saying thanks." he added, completely sincere. He really was grateful for Midorima's efforts since it was so out of character for him.

Well, maybe not  _really_ out of character. After all, he was the definition of a tsundere to the point of hilarity. Hell, the amount of times Takao had retold him of Midorima Shintarou's peculiar habits and actions were too many to-

 _Stop._ He halted his line of thoughts that was going into dangerous territory and fought down the memories that had been resurfacing.

He inwardly scolded himself when he noticed he was comparing Midorima to his older self again. It wasn't fair on the teen if he kept thinking like this. Besides, it was unhealthy to be this nostalgic over the past.

A bitter laugh almost escaped him. He must really be getting old from how much he's been strolling along memory lane lately. Being mentally thirty one years old was catching up to him.

Dragging himself back to the present, he noted with amusement at how the teenager actually spluttered at his words, face turning away as his cheeks turned a slight pink. Without directly looking at him, Midorima snatched the can out of his hand, movement hasty.

Eyeing him briefly, the shooting guard's back straightened as if facing an enemy on court. With no hesitation, he looked directly into Kagami's red eyes and stiffly nodded.

"I will pay you back later." he said resolutely, face warning him not to argue.

Kagami didn't know whether to snigger or sigh in defeat from Midorima's stubbornness.

Yup. Definitely a tsundere.

Shaking his head in vexation, he took a finishing bite off his fifth pizza. Seriously, why were the pizzas so small here? This was nowhere near enough to last him till dinner.

"So," Kagami started, wanting to keep talking. "Are you and the team training hard these days? I heard there's a match against Tohoku Middle School next week."

If Midorima was surprised that Kagami knew that, he didn't show it.

Instead, so fast that anyone else would've missed it, a frown flittered across the shooting guard's features before it turned neutral again.

"Akashi is training us to the fullest. I have confidence we will have no trouble at the match."

Kagami narrowed his eyes. There was something wrong with the way the teen had worded it. Before all this time travel business, he always had trouble deciphering Midorima's cool mask. But this version wasn't as adept to the skill which made some of his attempts look flimsy at best compared to before. Or later, if one viewed it in that pretense.

Curious and deciding to poke the almost nervous undertone in the teen's voice, he called him out.

"But there's still trouble, right?"

The red head ignored how Midorima went rimrod straight at the bullseye call out. Midorima looked at him with all previous embarrassment gone, green eyes hard and guarded. Completely unfazed, Kagami calmly stared back with piercing blood red.

"I don't know what you're talking abo-"

"Do you know what I absolutely hate about this school?"

The question was so abrupt that Midorima automatically shut down his heated response without thinking. Kagami's red eyes were scorching and went through him like an arrow, unflinching.

"Its policy." Midorima's eyebrows shot to the hairline but he didn't speak. Kagami continued. "'Winning is everything.' The mentality behind such a statement is flawed. The message is too prideful, too overboard. To polish students to the point where they think showing weakness is unacceptable is too heavy for one to bear. Imagine having that weighed on your chest every second, every day. Where asking for advice makes one look inept at solving his or her problems. The pressure and need to be perfect must be overwhelming."

Taking a deep breath, he noted how Midorima stared at him intently, lunch forgotten, as he listened to every word he was spurting out.

"I don't know anything about your team, but I do know one thing. Hiding a weakness in fear of being called losers and to keep a good reputation is all handy dandy, but it's stupid not to admit it if it's serious. Problems could be solved so much quicker if people just ask for help. Ignoring it isn't going to make it better. It'll just make things worse. Problems don't go away if it's never addressed. It just grows into a bigger pain in the ass."

He paused. "Hey, what do you think of me?"

This question occurred to him when he said the last part about asking for help. He meant what he said, but had momentarily forgotten that no, they were not close enough to be called friends yet and yes, he had lectured Midorima like one of his players when he was still a coach. Ergo, like a ten year old.

He hadn't meant to rant, but he felt kinda good after doing so. He really had needed to vent about the school's poisonous way of thinking. That thinking alone had made him almost reconsider not going to Teiko, but his loyalty to his friends had stopped him from running away. Oh the things he went through for those idiots.

Midorima's blank look looked rather stupid on him as he tried to follow Kagami's sudden change of topic.

"What?"

Kagami couldn't help but remember how Midorima had the exact same reaction to when he had given his opinion on Midorima's horoscopes. It wasn't any less funny then the first time.

"You don't trust me yet, do you? I'm asking because I just realized we may not be close enough for you to spill out all your angsty problems on me-"

"I do not angst!" Midorima snapped, causing Kagami to smirk. Midorima sighed and pushed his glasses up with one of his taped fingers. There was a trace of uncertainty at the action, yet Kagami could already sense what his answer would be.

"As for your question, I will not answer it. Aren't you embarrassed to ask something like that so straightfowardly? Normal people don't do that."

"And you're the epitome of normal I'm guessing?" Kagami shot back, ignoring how Midorima basically avoided his question. He watched with barely restrained snickers at how displeased Midorima looked with his face all twisted up like that. Turning his head away with a hmph with indignant childishness, the previously unknown tension dissapeared like a whiff of smoke.

A reflective look replaced Midorima's irritation. Kagami could almost see the mental picture of Midorima weighing the pros and cons of taking up his suggestion. After what felt like an eternity later, Midorima shifted on the grass before he finally spoke while still not looking at him.

"The ace of the team, Aomine, is growing quite frustrated with no one able to challenge him. Yesterday, he came close to going physical while telling off one of the second string opponents for not being fast enough to block him. It's putting a strain on everyone and is making people anxious, especially to his 'shadow', Kuroko."

Kagami nodded in understanding. He could perfectly understand where Aomine was coming from. When he had first come to Japan in his previous life in 9th grade, he too had become short tempered over the conclusion that Japan didn't have any good players. If he thought about it, he had been very much like Aomine before he met Seirin and learned under Kuroko and his senpais' guidance. For that, he was truly relieved he had met them before he turned into someone like the future, arrogant Aomine.

"So what are you doing about it?"

Midorima looked puzzled.

"Doing about it?" he repeated questioningly.

Kagami raised an eyebrow incredulously. "Well, obviously this can't continue. If what you're saying is true, then he's not really acting like a proper teammate. Whether anyone is weaker than him or not, he shouldn't be taking it out on the team. That's not right. It's not like those players he's going up against aren't trying their best. He shouldn't be letting his own personal issues get involved in his play. He's your best player, so of course he has the responsibility to watch himself. After all, everyone is looking up to him, right?"

Midorima looked speechless. It's as if he never about it from this angle before.

Kagami resisted the urge to scoff. Geniuses or not, the Miracles completely sucked at social behavior and thought too highly of themselves for their own good, even now.

He could see why  _that man_ wanted to change the Generation of Miracles. He was starting to see how flawed their way of thinking was and just how far back it went. It was starting to get ridiculous.

"What do you suggest should be done?"

Kagami cocked his head.

"Well, to be honest, the best way to go about this is disciplining him. Otherwise, he's just going to keep acting up."

"Like what?" Midorima demanded. His eyes were attentive and serious. Clearly, this has been bothering him lately.

Kagami thought about it before finally speaking.

"Don't let him play."

Midorima's eyes widened, not expecting such a solution. Seeing the doubt in his eyes, Kagami hurriedly explained.

"His lack of sportsmanship and belittlement to the other players is unacceptable. If he's going to act like a bitching little kid, take him out of matches. In fact, ban him all together until he learns his lesson." Kagami narrowed his eyes. "But make sure he doesn't skip. Have him do a hundred laps or something so he's at least not lazying around. But most importantly, support him. He sounds like a bastard to me, but he must be going through a pretty hard time. Talk to him. Let him know he's not alone. Having your captain and that kid Kuroko be burdened by everything isn't right either.

Kagami shut his mouth at the last of his tirade. Damn. He's saying way too much today.

He grew self-conscious from the unreadable way Midorima was looking at him. For a second, he thought he imagined the glimmer of respect in the shooter's bright green eyes. Unable to take the silence much longer, he coughed.

"So, uh, that's what I think, but you don't have to listen if you don't want to." He quickly reassured him. He really didn't want to get on Midorima's bad side after getting along with him so freakishly well.

To his utter relief, Midorima sighed, pushing his glasses up.

"You're argument was surprising good up until the last part." the end of his lip unmistakably curled upwards as he closed his eyes. "However, I have to say your logic is sound. I'll talk to Akashi about this at practice."

A little astounded but pleased over this development, Kagami nodded. "Sure. And tell me how it goes when you do. Aomine sounds like a piece of work."

Midorima snorted. "You have no idea."

Kagami smirked.

If he only knew.

**-A-**

Akashi put his pencil down and fought back the impulse to slump in his chair. Completing all his homework and extra paperwork from the basketball club was tiring, the latter giving more labor than the previous. It was astounding how after only two weeks, the lull of school was already too familiar to his liking.

Rolling his shoulders, he heard the cracking of unused muscles audible in the silent, lonely classroom. He normally didn't act this lax, but the temptation to just give himself a moment to let up finally had gotten through to him. It wasn't good to be so stressed so early in the year.

A pensive grimace briefly shadowed his features as he thought back to some of his more stressful subjects lately.

Daiki had once again caused a ruckus during practice and it was worrying him. As the captain, he should be trying to find a solution, yet he couldn't find one. Him, Akashi Seijuro, was stumped.

The very thought was quite displeasing.

Ever since the second championship, he had somewhat naively hoped that the problem would somehow solve itself, that maybe things would get better. After the incident that happened the other day, however, he could no longer hope for that.

The issue might've been resolved if Coach Shirogane was here, but he wasn't. The man had gotten sick at the worst time and wasn't even planning on coming back.

Of course he didn't blame the man. The coach did everything he could and had even pulled their ace out of his slump at their last championship, something Akashi admired. The man undeniably cared about the team and Akashi knew that he wouldn't have left if his situation hadn't been so dire.

However, intentional or not, that left the new Head Coach Sanada and him to take responsibility of the team themselves. And so far, they weren't doing such a good job about it.

So buried in his thoughts, he was uncharacteristically startled when he felt someone lay a hand on his shoulder. His first reaction was to demand the person to not do so before red met subtlety concerned green eyes.

Akashi blinked in genuine surprise.

"Shintarou? What are you doing here?"

It was a good question. The shooting guard had gone missing during lunch ever since the transfer student had come to Teiko Middle School. Akashi was still tempted to approach the student but had resisted till now. It was Shintarou's business and he wasn't too interested in the new student just yet.

Shintarou, caustic and unwavering Shintarou, actually averted his eyes and took off his glasses to rub them clean against his uniform shirt, as if trying to delay his answer.

The very action triggered alarms in Akashi's head.

Finished with wiping his glasses clean and putting them in place, the teen finally looked at Akashi right in the eyes and spoke.

"I may have a solution to Aomine's behavior as of late." the green haired teen said stiffly.

Niggling suspicion took root in the red head's sharp, intellectual mind as he raised one elegant eyebrow up.

"Oh? And what solution would that be?"

Shintarou narrowed his eyes.

"Don't let him play in the match against Tohoku next week."

Akashi stared at him cooly, folding his fingers together as he leaned back on his chair. Seeing that Akashi wasn't going to comment, Shintarou continued.

"I'm not saying this because of my own thoughts, but for the team. His actions are compromising the team's performances and he is acting disrespectful. This cannot continue. He needs to know that even with his own personal problems, he cannot act like this during practice. What if he does this during a match? It'll make Teiko look bad and make the rest of the team look just as arrogant. Along with the reputation of being the best middle school basketball team, comes malicious opinions from the media who is against us. We can't let that happen."

Akashi stared at Shintarou, admittedly stunned. This was the most the green haired teen ever spoken to him. It was almost surreal to hear something so passionate come out of the usually uncaring but caring teen's mouth. Such a change was awfully sudden and he had suspicions as to what caused this.

Tilting his head, red orbs turned to slits.

"Did Kagami Taiga tell you to tell me this?" he asked almost serenely.

Shintarou's eye twitched.

_Bingo._

"What does he have to do with this conversation?" Shintarou's voice turned to steel as he eyed him mistrustfully. It almost made him smirk at how paranoid the teen sounded from that one sentence. He sounded almost…  _protective_.

How  _fascinating_.

"Everything." he smiled. "After all, it isn't like you at all to burst into speeches that don't involve your lucky items or 'fate'. Not only that, you're the last person I would've expected to get yourself involved in this. I thought team business isn't your problem to solve."

Shintarou clenched his fists but didn't deny anything he just said. All of it was true. He  _wasn't_ the type to interfere. It's what made this situation all the more curious in Akashi's opinion.

Since there was nothing that could've changed Shintarou's mind except for the new student, it hadn't been a far off guess. Not only that, Shintarou had been in a awefully good mood these days, no matter how much he denied it.

Which just raised the question: who exactly was Kagami Taiga?

Shintarou scowled and gripped tighter on the green marker that Akashi concluded to be his lucky item for the day.

"That is not the point Akashi. The point is, will you do it?" Shintarou demanded, bypassing all awkwardness as his request hung in the air.

Akashi hummed. The suggestion was rational and better than anything he had come up with for the past weeks. It'll take some convincing to the principal, and he could already picture Sanada agreeing to this solution. So in the end, he nodded. He noticed how the green haired teen had huffed at his response, his shoulders loosening barely in relief. That was going to change pretty soon.

"I do have one condition however."

Shintarou's moment of alleviation was all too short as he immediately turned rigid again to Akashi's sadistic glee.

"What is it?"

Akashi smirked and he could almost see how much that one action seemed to aggravate the teen. "I want you to bring Kagami Taiga to the gym on Thursday after school. It's about time I met this new 'friend' of yours."

"I don't know his schedule. He may have something planned."

"Then have him cancel it. I'm sure he'll listen like how you've listened to him." Akashi said innocently.

Shintarou looked close to strangling something. Instead, his shoulders slumped in submission.

This wasn't a suggestion. This was an  _order._

"Fine." the green haired teen's teeth gritted together before he whirled around and pompously left the room. As if on cue, the rest of the students came in through the door back from lunch, completely oblivious to the fact that another member of the Generation of Miracles had been there.

Akashi ignored them as he went back to his pondering thoughts, though they had shifted into a different route.

The transfer student he had at first dismissed after listening to some of Momoi's data was definitely starting something. To have one of the most stubborn, most prideful person alive to actually come to him in order to give  _advice_ was as unnatural as Atsushi not eating sweets for a week.

Smiling to himself, he rested his chin on his fist and looked to the window.

"Kagami Taiga." he said the name quietly to himself in the now bustling room, the name unheard from under his breathe. "You're becoming more interesting by the minute."

Maybe when he had the time and wasn't too wrapped up in other current issues would he check on this Kagami Taiga more from Momoi. He was sure she had more info by now.

**-A-**

"What the hell are you talking about Akashi?!"

Everyone in the gym turned around to the player that dared to yell at their captain. Everybody, even the third strings who rarely even came to the first string gym, was aware of the silent warnings to never piss off the captain.

So seeing Aomine Daiki looking close to murdering the calm red head was somewhat of a shock. The rest of the Generation of Miracles were just as alarmed, nobody noticing how Midorima closed his eyes in resignition to the reaction.

Akashi narrowed his eyes at his teammate, composed expression never faltering.

"You heard me Daiki. Because of the stunt you pulled yesterday, I'm pulling you off the team until I decide to bring you back. Ever since you've come back this year, you have been a volatile presence and have been disrupting practice for the whole team. Therefore, I am putting you on the bench starting today."

The power forward's hands clenched his fists close to the point of leaving crescent mark scars on his palm, not caring at all that they had spectators watching the scene.

"The first match is in a week." Aomine hissed. "You've gotta let me play!"

"Then you should've thought of that beforehand when you yelled at that second string player."

At Akashi's sharp retort, Aomine's face twisted ferociously.

"It's not my fault everyone in this club is so damn weak!" he snarled, causing Akashi's face to immediately darken. The change of demeanor marked as a warning in Aomine's head, but he ignored it. He was too enraged to care.

"Oh?" Akashi's voice became very soft, so soft that everyone had to strain their ears to hear his next words. "You do know that every person here is training to the best of their ability, including the Generation of Miracles, right? Then I don't have to tell you that from your comment, you make it sound like the rest of the regulars, including myself, are  _also_ weak?"

Aomine's eyes widened as he realized what he just instigated, mentally backtracking as to not create a bigger hole for himself. This was not good. An angry Akashi was  _never_ good.

"N-No, that's not what I'm trying to-"

"No Daiki." Akashi cut off like a knife, making the taller teen wince. Crossing his arms, Akashi eyed Aomine coldly. "My words are final. Even the coach has agreed to this arrangement, so you cannot have any more complaints. If you don't like it, then quit. A player unwilling to listen is a useless one."

Aomine flinched at the harsh reprimand and looked down to the floor. After a moment of contemplation over the red head's words, he finally turned away with a 'tch!' and started to walk toward the door that led outside. Before he could even reach there however, Akashi's voice cut through the air again.

"Also, if you're planning on skipping practice all together, don't even think about it." He ignored how the power forward twisted around to stare at him in outrage. "Whether you're playing or not, you're still in this team and under my jurisdiction. So as of now, start doing twenty laps around the gym and I'll give you more to do after you're done."

An ugly expression took over Aomine's features before he squeezed his eyes shut, boiling anger still evident even without his furious blue eyes. All watched with baited breath before finally, the dark skinned teen kicked the ground and started to run around the gym, feet stomping hard as if the ground had somehow offended him. The stifling air the players hadn't known was actually there vanished, making many to sigh in relief.

Kise was one of them as he laid a hand dramatically over his heart.

"Man, that was intense! For a moment there, I really though Aomine-cchi was going to kill Akashi-cchi!"

"Kise-kun, please don't say something so impossible." Although his face was completely blank, nobody can mistake the slight disapproval in Kuroko's sky blue eyes. "If Akashi-kun hears you, it'll be on your head."

"So mean!"

Murasakibara idly dribbled the ball and glanced toward Midorima who had started to shoot baskets the moment the heated argument between the two Miracles had been over.

"Neh, Mido-chin." The childish drawl perked Kise and Kuroko's interest as they watched the lumbering giant stumble his way to Midorima. Midorima twitched and glared sharply up at the player with barely held impatience.

"What is it?"

Murasakibara, completely unaffected by the unwelcoming tone, pointed blatantly to a still coolly pissed off Akashi who was watching with hawk eyes at Aomine's running figure.

"Why's Aka-chin so mad?" he probed, sounding completely disinterested at the answer. Kise blinked and whirled around to the suddenly pensive looking shooter attentively.

"Wait,  _do_ you know why? Do you? Do you?" Kise badgered, leaning in closer to the green haired teen's proximity without restraint. Midorima looked even more aggravated than humanly possible, hands jerking as he held the basketball as if he wanted nothing more than to throw it at the blonde's head.

"How should I know? I don't know what goes on in his head as much as anyone else." he snapped, finally pushing the blonde's head that was right next to his shoulder away. Kise comically fell down, windmill arms swinging and all as he landed on his back in a spectacular heap. Instantly getting up again and long used to the abuse, he pouted angrily and turned his attention to Kuroko.

"Kuroko-cchi! Don't you think Midorima-cchi is too much?"

"No. Not really."

"Kise-chin is annoying."

"Why is everyone ganging up on me!"

The rest of the first strings players ignored them as they practiced. The Miracles bickering amongst themselves was nothing new. Many thought it was quite astounding how other schools thought that the Generation of Miracles was a 'united unit' or something preposterous like that.

To the Teiko basketball club, they were just a bunch of colorful, batshit crazy geniuses who had enough weird habits to throw around in spades.

And that included the terrifying captain Akashi Seijuro.

**-A-**

Kise sighed as he swung his bag back and forth sluggishly while strolling down the sidewalk.

After practice, their plan on eating ice cream together was halted when Aomine had walked out on them, claiming he didn't have time today. Pretty much everyone knew that he was still angry over Akashi's decision and didn't want to deal with any of them in his current bad mood. Momoi had chased after him and left them in the dust as well.

Midorima was the next to leave as he too had to deal with something at home. Murasakibara silently departed with an empty bag that had previously held a mountain of snacks. Kise suspected he was going to head to the convenience store to buy some more, abandoning them in the process.

When Kise turned around to see if Kuroko was still going with the original plan, he found that the phantom player had already disappeared.

Sulking, he was now stalking alone towards home, wondering to himself what he was going to do when he got there. The realization that he was completely bored and didn't have particularly anything to do wasn't new to him. However, the reason behind it was quite startling.

The solitude he was feeling was pretty strange. He had gotten used being accompanied with at least one of the Miracles. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he was ever by himself this past year.

Before he had gotten into basketball, he had been used to the sense of aloneness. Sure he was surrounded by people who adored him, but it wasn't like they really  _knew_ him. They were all just sheep, trailing behind him as he left a trail of sparkles and charm in his wake. Girls fan-girled over him, boys were green with envy. It was a repetitive cycle he cynically viewed as something to be expected. In this world, looks and talent is what got people to places.

That is, until he met other people who can certainly match up to him in both departments.

Suddenly, he wasn't so perfect.

And that thought made him happier than anything in a very long time.

He was used to being alone, but now that there were people who could stand his presence without looking at him in awe and jealousy in his life, the hollow, desolate feeling was ten times harder to ignore this time.

Maybe it's because of his mood that he had managed to notice he was near the basketball court that was quite close to his house. He rarely ever played there due to the fact that Teiko was only a fifteen minute walk from where he lived. Besides, the school gyms were clean and better facilitated.

So it was startling to see that someone was occupying the usually unused court.

He cocked his head as he watched the player steadily dribble the ball, back facing Kise so he could only see the tense shoulders and uncommon bright red hair that was a darker shade to Akashi's. It was like he was in a stalemate with an invented enemy in front of him, crouching with bunched up muscles that were ready to spring.

He moved.

Kise's jaw dropped at the speed in which the player faked to the side before power-forwarding to the other imaginary player's right. With confidence that was almost awe-inspiring, the guy charged and leaped up in the air to impossible heights before slamming an earthshattering dunk that convinced Kise that the shaking of his own body was because of the sheer power of that one move.

Watching this with half denial, he felt a strong sense of déjà vu. The buzzing feeling that refused to leave him was familiar to him, as if he had felt this feeling before. Shivers crawled up his spine before it dawned on him.

It was like watching Aomine Daiki on that once unimportant day all over again. The day where he had impulsively checked out the basketball practice and saw Aomine defeat the other players as if it was nothing.

And seeing something so incredible again after so long made him take action before he really thought about it beforehand because damn it, all that was ringing in his head was  _holy shit this guy is insane!_

"Hey you!"

His voice shattered through the suddenly silent court, causing the red headed player to immediately freeze in place with his back still turned. Kise ignored this reaction and grinned good-naturedly, even though the guy couldn't see it.

"Man oh man! That was an awesome dunk! Where did you learn to do that?" he asked, unable to keep the trace of wonder he was still feeling at the moment.

The player straightened at the compliment and Kise could hear the red head take a deep, shuttering breath before turning around to look at him. Kise was met with piercing, crimson eyes and a scowl that could rival Midorima on a bad day. The fierceness in his expression took him momentarily aback before he determinedly stared back at him. There was no way he was going to get scared off this easily.

Something flickered in those red eyes before it narrowed with clear suspicion.

This reaction somewhat surprised Kise. Most people that looked at him dismissed him as someone harmless before playing against him. This guy didn't seem to buy Kise's pretty face and that instantly intrigued the blonde.

The player grunted. "My teacher."

Encouraged by the fact that scary looking teen actually answered, Kise brightened before openly skipping towards him. The guy twitched at how Kise looked excitedly at him like a puppy and sighed.

Kise, extremely amused by the red head's aggravation at this point, jotted out a hand eagerly in front of the teen and beamed.

"My name is Kise Ryouta! Nice to meet you red-san!"

The player looked at him blankly for a full ten seconds before turning around to get the ball that had rolled away during their 'conversation.' Kise spluttered at being so blatantly ignored and skidded over to the teen who was picking up the basketball and turning to leave the court.

"Wait wait wait!" Kise called out, baffled. "You're just going to leave like that? I don't even know your name!"

"I don't even know you." The red head shot back shortly. "Besides, don't  _you_ think giving your name so carelessly to me is safe? For all you know, I could be some punk who's planning to steal your wallet. Think next time baka."

Kise deflated at the reprimand before perking up again. "But if you tell me your name, we're not strangers anymore."

The teen had a flat look in response to Kise's logic, causing Kise to inwardly smirk in glee. He at first talked to him because of his apparent skills in basketball. The more and more he chatted with the red head however, the more interesting the teen was making himself out to be. And if there was one thing about Kise Ryouta one had to look out for, was his tenacity at chasing after things that interested him.

Anybody can attest to this from how obsessed he was over the phantom sixth man.

"No."

"Oh come on!" Kise whined. He half wondered why the guy hadn't left yet when he was clearly fed up with Kise's behavior. Though he could see the obvious annoyance on his face, there was some unknown emotion that was present while they conversed. Something that not even Copy Cat Kise can unravel with his sharp eyes.

Suddenly, a brilliant idea came to him.

Giving a sly look to the instantly wary looking teen who had caught the expression, he pointed to himself with an arrogant smirk.

"Then how about I  _win_ that name out of you?" he challenged.

The red head's gleaming red eyes widened a fraction before quickly narrowing dangerously. The intensity of his stare was slightly unnerving, as if he could see right through Kise's act and knew exactly what he was playing at. Finally, the red head slowly began to shake his head, red locks shifting at the motion.

"No." the teen said quietly. "Sorry, but I won't play a game against you just yet." The heavy atmosphere increased as the crimson orbs turned to fire that could rage across the world thrice over and still won't burn out. "Maybe next time. As of the moment, I don't think it would be such a good idea."

Suddenly, the red head gave a ferocious grin that could put a wild tiger to shame. "I will promise this though. I'll definitely kick your ass when it happens. Mark my words." There was a playfulness Kise never would've expected from the red head in his eyes. "And don't think I'm running away, Kise the Copy Cat. I just want to have a good game in a more proper setting."

Kise's eyes bulged unattractively in shock at the nickname before a startled laugh blew out of him. Quickly getting over the fact the teen knew who he was, he grinned back. Meeting the challenging gaze, golden eyes narrowed with equal aggressiveness.

"I'll keep that in mind." He simply said, stalemate clear. The pressuring atmosphere dissipated at the agreement, the two basketball players up to the task. The instant the message was sent, Kise scratched the back of his head and pouted.

"Mah, I guess I'm not going to get that name anytime soon huh?" he sighed.

The red head smirked and shrugged unapologetic.

"Well, actually, I think you're going to figure out pretty soon who I am later." The red head admitted, making Kise squawk.

" _What?_ Then why can't you tell me  _now!_ " Kise whined. The teen rolled his eyes.

"I'm not just going to give you the answer on a silver platter baka. Figure it out."

"I don't wanna!"

"Idiot," the teen snorted and passed him by the shoulder, giving him a sideways look on the way. "Just ask Midorima. That's the only hint I'm giving you."

Before Kise can question or retort, the red head was already striding away, leaving a very clueless Kise Ryouta behind as he did.

Kise stared at his back for a long moment. Running a hand through his soft, blonde hair, he chuckled.

"Well, I'm looking forward to the challenge, red-san."

The feeling of boredom and loneliness had all but vanished at the face of someone who could prove to be a threat to even him, a Miracle.

**-A-**

"Midorima-cchi! Midorima-cchi! Hey, are you listening to me?"

The green haired shooter pinched the bridge of his nose.

Why does he deal with this blonde idiot? Oh, right. They were teammates. And teammates don't throttle each other as much as he wanted to at this moment in time. Anyway, he doubted committing a public display of violence was going to change anything other than Kise complaining about the treatment and extending their interaction even further.

So with a resigned air, Midorima nearly snarled when he answered, "What?" in an unpleasant tone.

Kise didn't even seem deterred by it and was nearly  _hopping_ from pure elation.

It was at the beginning of the day when most of the students, including Kagami, wasn't here yet. Right then, Midorima was incredibly grateful this time for the red head's tardiness for once. He had no idea what his reaction to Kise would be and didn't want to find out.

He knew it was going to be inevitable since Kagami was going to have to meet Akashi in a couple of days on Thursday, but he wanted to hold off any meetings as much as possible. Kagami may accept his own odd habits, but it didn't guarantee that he wasn't going to sprint away to the hills at first chance when he met the rest of the colorful Miracles.

And as much as it surprised him to admit it, he knew he would be… upset if that happened.

Kagami Taiga was a mass of contradictions. He came to this conclusion the more he spent time with the red headed teen. Kagami was stubborn and had a very large personality, yet the teen didn't mind the peace and quiet when they ate together in the courtyard. He prodded and teased yet never went too far, backing away if Midorima ever got uncomfortable, the consideration for his wellbeing still confusing to him since nobody has ever done that before.

And when Midorima had asked about his horoscope, Kagami didn't even blink at the question and promptly answered Leo.

Since then, Midorima had been mulling over the idea to bring a lucky item for the teen, something he only ever did to people he cared about, including the Generation of Miracles sometimes.

So yes, he didn't want the teen to run off and think he and the Miracles were too weird to handle.

Which was also part of the reason why he didn't tell the red head about the deal that was made between Akashi and him in exchange for his suggestion yet. His reaction was sure to be derogatory.

It still didn't make sense to him even now how helping Akashi meant Midorima owed him a favor and not the other way around.

Then again, Akashi never made sense.

Watching Kise bounce around, Midorima regretted for a rare moment for bringing his lucky item for the day. It was a headband with bunny ears that reminded him all too much of Kise's current behavior.

"So, do you know a really big kid with red hair and scary eyes?"

Kise's question pushed all thoughts of sugar high rabbits out of Midorima's mind.

"What?"

He felt like he was saying that a lot lately.

Kise tapped on Midorima's table as he leaned in on him with both hands on his desk, making him instinctively pull back from the closeness. There was a rare, intelligent look on the blonde's face, calculative and perspective.

"He said that you're the man to turn to if I wanted to know anything about him. I don't even know his name!"

Midorima stared at him dumbly, feeling like he'd been hit over by a sludge hammer.

"You've  _met_ him?" he blurted out disbelievingly. " _When_?"

How in seven hells was it possible for Kise to have already met the red head? Was it fate?

If that was the case, for once, he really wished Kami hadn't interfered in this matter.

"Yesterday after practice. Really impressive guy to be honest." an honest to god smirk graced the blonde's handsome features. "He's interesting."

Just from those two words did he know that Kagami was going to be Kise's new fixation next to Kuroko. He felt a wave of pity for Kagami. To endure the attention of Kise Ryouta made even Kuroko, emotionless as a brick wall, go up the wall.

Knowing Kise wasn't going to leave until he had answers, Midorima inwardly groaned and gave in.

"The person you've just described is the new transfer student, Kagami Taiga." he said solemnly.

He watched with a stoic face plastered on as Kise's jaw unhinged to the floor in flabbergasted astonishment. Backing away as if he had the plague, Kise pointed at him like a drama queen with wide eyes.

"W-W-Wait a second! Are you talking about the guy you're babysitting right now? The same guy who you've been hanging out with since school started?" Kise demanded.

Midorima hmphed and clicked his glasses back into place. "Yes. Happy now?"

Surprisingly, Kise actually looked even more frantic at his response.

"But, you said he's not interested in anything!" Kise pointed out. "That's not true though!"

"What," Midorima said slowly. "are you talking about?"

"He plays basketball!"

Midorima blinked in surprise at this piece of information.

"How do you know?" Midorima queried.

"When I met him, he was playing by himself at a basketball court." Kise shrugged. "I can already tell he's on a whole different level then most players we've played. I may be wrong since I'm not as experienced in basketball as the rest of the Miracles, but I think it's safe to say he's already on par with the Uncrowned Kings."

Midorima quirked up an eyebrow.

This was unexpected. He knew Kagami had been hiding something when he stated he didn't have any interests, but he truthfully hadn't expected  _this._

"What else happened?"

Kise has calmed down at this point and had taken the time to scrape a chair facing Midorima and sat on it with his legs crossed. Kise sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, I uh, actually challenged him to a one on one-"

"You what?" Midorima hissed, cutting off Kise. "Do you have any idea what Akashi would do if he finds out?"

"I didn't get to, okay?" Kise snapped back uncharacteristically. "The guy refused to and promised a match later." he sounded actually irritated at this, a first for the blonde. Kise always had a knack for getting what he wanted through good looks and smiles. To be denied of anything must be frustrating for him.

Unfortunately for Kise, the green haired teen held no sympathy for him.

"Did he say why he wouldn't?"

Kise shook his head.

"Nope. Just said it wasn't the right time yet or something like that."

Midorima hummed at this. Well, it seemed like the red head was up to something. What, though, he had no clue.

As for his reasons for not telling Midorima anything about his apparent adeptness in basketball, he would leave it alone for now. Kagami must have some personal reasons for not doing so and he would respect it.

Anybody who was able to say 'no' to poster boy Kise was good in his books.

* * *

**Please review on the way out.**

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	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, thanks for the reviews! It makes me happy to know how many people like this story. And I do apologize for the grammar mistakes. And the miniscule, tiny ones I didn't notice before and fixed later. Continue to tell me if there's something wrong in the later future so I can fix it.  
> Also, since I still didn't know the entire plot down to detail due to the fact I only recently started getting interested in this fandom, I kinda messed up on the timeline. Things started to change in the middle of the GoM's second year. I thought the whole shit hitting the fan happened during their third year, so I just want to say that Akashi is NOT insane with heterogeneous eyes and Murasakibara hasn't challenged him yet, even though he has already evolved. It's only a matter of time until Murasakibara snaps and I'm planning to write that scene if Kagami doesn't manage to stop it in time. Not sure on that detail yet.  
> As for Aomine, he's currently frustrated and not in that completely lazy state of mind yet, which explains why he was so mad that he wouldn't be able to play in Teiko's first match. He's still subconsciously searching for a rival, even when a large part of him believes such a rival doesn't exist.  
> So yeah. I actually freaked out when I read the manga a few days ago and vehemently hoped it wouldn't ruin it for anyone who's nitpicky on the details. So I sincerely apologize in advance for this, but am continuing this story with this current story plot I've created. In fact, I think this fic has just turned into an AU time line without me even knowing it.  
> Anyway, thank you for supporting this clumsy, absentminded writer and I hope you continue reading this and keep reviewing!

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Kagami stared at him as if he had grown a second head.

"I have to meet  _who_?"

Midorima rubbed his temples.

"When I told Akashi what you told me, he demanded to meet you in compensation." he sounded annoyed by the captain's behavior, but Kagami hardly took notice of that. He was too busy trying not to panic at the news.

"When?" he demanded. Midorima closed his eyes, expression slightly guilty.

"Tomorrow."

" _Tomorrow_?!"

"Stop parroting everything I'm saying!" Midorima snapped, irritated.

Kagami didn't respond to this and instead slumped heavily on his chair, mind whirling over the news.

It was lunch time and everybody had left the classroom about a minute ago. Kagami had all been ready to go outside to eat at their usual place when the green haired teen had stopped him and solemnly told him they needed to talk. The last thing Kagami had expected was for Midorima to bluntly tell him that he apparently now had to meet a certain red haired captain who's not going to take no for an answer.

When he had given Midorima advice, he hadn't expected something like  _this_ to happen. Worst part was, because he was completely caught off guard, he had absolutely no plan as to how he was going to go about dealing with the rest of the Generation of Miracles all at once. Hell didn't even begin to describe the circumstances he was now stuck in because Akashi definitely wasn't going to let him skip out.

He would probably hunt him down if he doesn't show up, a situation that sounded a thousand times worse in Kagami's opinion.

 _Plus, Aomine would be there._ The grim thought made him internally frown. He was worried that this version of Aomine was going to be just as lazy and arrogant as his future self already. Kuroko hadn't been too specific about when that particular change started, but had said with a somber face that the experience hadn't been pleasant. Kagami couldn't imagine Aomine's personality being even worse than what Kagami was used to. He didn't know if he could deal with the pre-Aomine who hadn't lost to Seirin at the Winter Cup again. The first time around had been bad enough.

The only silver lining he could really see was the prospect of meeting Kuroko again, even though they technically weren't partners yet.

He fervently hoped that even after he fixes the timeline, they would still be the 'light and shadow' of Seirin. For all he knew, Kuroko might not even choose to go to Seirin if the Miracles get their heads on straight early without the phantom player's help.

That lingering possibility was Kagami's biggest fear out of any curveball that might be thrown at his way, keeping him awake in the late of the night with doubts plaguing him if sleep didn't come quick enough.

Midorima grunted and looked elsewhere with an awkwardness Kagami hadn't seen since the first time they've met. "I apologize for telling you so late. I have no excuse for delaying what I should've informed you yesterday."

Sensing the authenticity in Midorima's words, Kagami felt his anxiety lessen as he huffed and waved off a hand dismissively.

"It's fine. You just really took me by surprise." Understatement of the year. "So, do you have any idea what he wants to talk to me about anyway?"

Midorima shook his head.

"No." he looked vexed with old frustration painting his sharp features. "Few people, if any, know what goes on in his head. I must warn you that there is always a secret implication to everything that he does. He's always ten- no, twenty steps up ahead of everyone else and is a strategic prodigy. It's what makes him a competent captain and an extremely dangerous foe."

Kagami hummed, mentally agreeing completely. That really was a perfect description of the red headed genius.

Midorima turned quiet for a moment, a troubled, almost hesitant look on his face. Kagami could tell he wanted to say something and patiently watched him, waiting for him to talk.

Midorima must've sensed this because when he looked at Kagami right in the eye with his glasses glinting ominously, his shoulders had squared as if readying himself for retaliation to his words.

"Kise came here yesterday in the morning." Midorima admitted. His green eyes were sharp as he stared him down. "He said you already knew who he was."

Kagami wasn't surprised that Kise searched him out. He had to admit he did act a bit enigmatic. Nodding, he purposely overlooked the fact this wasn't Midorima's real question.

"Yeah, well, you Generation of Miracles are pretty famous. Not to mention the fact I've seen the guy's face on magazines every time I go to the convenience store." He said nonchalantly.

Which was true. It kind of amazed Kagami how far back Kise's modeling career went. Kagami wouldn't have been able to stand the attention for even a day, let alone years. Having reporters hound him for weeks after Seirin's second win at the Winter Cup in his junior year had been bad enough.

He didn't even want to  _think_ about the appalling amount of fan-girls he unwantedly had caught attention of during that time either. He still had nightmares over those damnable few months of running away from hoards of crazy female teenagers every  _friggin_  day.

And when he had been at the hospital after the accident, a ridiculous amount of fanmail had been sent to him from all over Japan. The endless supply had made even the ever composed Himuro Tatsuya dumbstruck with sudden stupidity.

And promptly burst out laughing at the fact  _Taiga_  of all people was receiving love letters from strangers when desperate men everywhere would weep with joy at receiving even one confession. He had still been snickering even after Kagami had chucked one of the 'Get well!' beanie dolls he received from one of the fans to his head.

Midorima curtly nodded in agreement, gaze not losing its intensity.

"Kise also said that you play basketball." Though he stated it as a statement, one had to be deaf, blind, and dumb to not hear the unvoiced question in his voice. Kagami exhaled out of his mouth before finally nodding.

"Yeah, that's right."

There were wrinkles when Midorima scrunched up his eyebrows, puzzlement evident in his next enquiry.

"Then why did you say you didn't have any interests?"

"I never said I have no interest in basketball." Kagami contradicted. "I just said nothing in this school interested me. I already knew Teiko has a strong basketball team and how much the school values the sport before I came here." He quirked up a split eyebrow. "I did do my research when choosing schools."

"Why  _don't_ you join?" Midorima asked, looking bemused. "From what little I know from Kise, I heard you're a decent player."

Kagami grunted and raised one finger up. "Because one, I seriously doubt this school needs another 'decent player' like me. The team is overpowered as it is. And the blonde idiot is over exaggerating." He added. He raised another finger.

"Two, like I said before, I completely disagree with this school's motto. I don't like the implications it foretells." he minutely scowled. "Just thinking about it leaves a bad taste in my mouth."

"And three," a barring grin enveloped his features, startling the shooting guard whose eyes widened at the nearly animalistic emotion he was portraying. "I want to play basketball as proper rivals with the whole lot of you. It won't feel right to me to play as your teammate when all I want to do is defeat you. Besides, it'll mess up the teamwork you guys probably already have if I join."

The green haired teen gave him a look before snorting at his bold words. A slight, competitive smile flitted across his mouth before it turned stern.

"You seem confident of your abilities. If you have researched about the basketball club, you should know you'd have to make it to first string in order to even have the possibility of being on the team."

Kagami shrugged, completely unbothered by the daunting prospect.

"That just means I'd have to work harder in order to reach to the top." He reasoned simply. "Natural talent isn't everything you know."

There was a glint of approval on Midorima's face before he nodded in concurrence to the statement.

"I suppose when you say you'll battle against the Miracles, that also includes me?"

The red head gave an anticipating grin.

"Of course." he let slip the excitement he felt by the very idea of going one-on-one against Shutoku's future shooting guard again. America may have a whole batch of extremely good players, but playing against the Miracles always had his blood pumping with eagerness and adrenaline.

Midorima's eyes narrowed behind his glasses. "Don't think defeating me will be so easy."

Kagami smirked.

"Wouldn't dream of it." he readily assented. "But that doesn't change the fact I'll definitely beat you."

Midorima couldn't help but smirk back.

"Like I'll let you."

Before another barb could be thrown from either basketball player, Kise Ryouta suddenly slammed the door open with mock outrage all over his face. Whether completely unaware or ignoring the startled reactions he received from both Midorima and Kagami for his rather unexpected entrance, he pointed at the red head with the dramatics of a ten year old.

"No fair!" he protested. "He's going to have a match with  _me_  first!"

While Midorima had a long suffering look on his face at the blonde's appearance after quickly composing himself, Kagami spluttered in shock and felt like the world was laughing at him from the amount of ludicrous situations he was getting himself into lately.

Standing up from his chair, he shot the small forward an incredulous look. "What in Kami are  _you_  doing here?!" he demanded.

Kise winked while grinning cheerfully. Without any preamble, he skipped toward the green haired teen who immediately stiffened when he saw Kise coming to him and wrapped a friendly arm around his teammate's shoulder.

Midorima looked like a peacock with his feathers ruffled at the close contact.

"Kise,  _get off._ " Midorima ordered with his voice barely controlled.

Kise disregarded the tone.

"Midorima-cchi here told me." Kise revealed with his typical happy, lucky go smile. At the moment, the sight was absolutely demonic to Kagami's sanity.

Then his words caught up to him.

Kagami whirled his attention to an irate Midorima and stared at him accusingly.

"You toldhim who I am?" while Kagami wasn't surprised about Kise going to Midorima like his suggested, he  _was_ surprised that Midorima didn't manage or just didn't bother to not give any persoanl imformation about the mysterious red head the blonde encountered. Or didn't completely rebuff him like Kagami had expected him to.

Midorima scowled and jerked a thumb in Kise's direction who was  _still clinging on to him._

"Try having him on  _your_ tail and see if you could refuse." Midorima dared.

Kise looked momentarily perplexed and looked questioningly at the red head.

"But, you told me to go to Midorima." Kise pointed out. Kagami grunted.

"That's because I thought Midorima wouldn't sell me out." Kagami grudgingly admitted. Seriously, Midorima was one of the most private people he had ever met. He hadn't expected the green haired teen to actually give Kise the necessary ammunition to make Kagami's life so much harder than it already was. He thought he would've known better than to make such a monumental mistake, younger or not. With the blonde now in the equation, it was like adding a chaotic element into the mess of things, something Kagami could really do without.

It wasn't that he disliked Kise or something like that. Out of all the Miracles excluding Kuroko, he had technically known Kise the longest and was more comfortable with his presence than any of the others. His easy going personality contrasted greatly to his looming reputation as an incredible player who was admired by many – more in the female population – and was a nice guy overall.

That did not, however, make Kise harmless. Kagami had learned through much experience over the years how scarily perspective and observant the blonde was. There's a reason why he's called Copy Cat Kise after all.

He was also the most compassionate out of the group of geniuses. The blonde had started out pretty emotionally stunted and spoiled at the beginning but had grown up to be one of the most empathetic people Kagami had ever met. It was almost admirable how much he cared about the people around him, worming his way into even the gruff Kasamatsu Yukio's heart, his future best friend.

Kagami had lost count on how many times the model had sneaked into his hospital room and brightened up his day with funny stories of the Miracles' Teiko days, memories that were precious to the blonde. Still loud and nauseatingly optimistic as hell, but at least it gave him a distraction from the life-changing loss he had been experiencing at the time.

So Kagami knew Kise had the potential to be a great person in the later future. He just didn't want Kise to be involved in his life just yet.

When the coincidental meeting at the court had happened, it had shaken him to the core. It was like the world was refusing Kagami's wish to simply adjust himself first and instead was throwing Miracle after Miracle in his face. Him having to meet Akashi Seijuro on per his request proved that.

Kagami internally groaned. He really shouldn't have challenged the blonde so brazenly. All that teasing of keeping his identity a secret and saying they'll meet soon had totally jinxed him.

And other than those reasons…

"Wah! You're a meanie! Even more than Kuroko-cchi! Ne ne, don't you think so Midorima-cchi? Huh? Huh?"

… Kise was pretty damn annoying.

Midorima had a large tick mark on his forehead before finally throwing the arm off his shoulder and pushing Kise away. Kise stumbled back, his legs hitting the back of another desk's chair before out righting himself, pouting at the rough treatment. Midorima paid no heed to this and instead glared at Kagami.

"You sic this idiot blonde on me because you didn't want to deal with him?" the green haired shooter seethed.

"I knew his reputation, but that doesn't mean I knew him. He could've been some crazy guy with that happy puppy act he was showing off." Kagami paused. "I'm still blaming your for this."

Midorima's anger turned into incredulous dismay.

" _Why_?"

Kagami glared at him with clear fault in his crimson eyes.

"If you hadn't blabbered to him like I would've guessed, he wouldn't be here."

Midorima shot him a 'are you serious?' glare. "You're blaming me for not reaching your expectations? That doesn't even make any sense!"

"Oh?" Kagami narrowed his eyes. "Then why do you sound guilty?"

"Don't make things up. You're imagining things."

"So you pushing your damn glasses up your face  _isn't_ a nervous tick? Could've fooled me." The red head scoffed.

"Wha-How the hell do you even  _know_ that?" Midorima demanded, covering up the stricken look of being caught in the act from overtaking his features. His hand quickly lowered from the motion of doing just as what Kagami had accused. "Do you secretly observe people's habits like a stalker?"

"Hell no! Don't give other people the wrong idea you four-eyed tsundere!"

"Shut up Bakagami!"

"Um, guys?" Kise interrupted nervously, glancing at the crowd that was forming outside the hallway, some openly gaping at the colorful pair. To see the level-headed Midorima loose his cool at the delinquent looking transfer student was as atypical as Aomine not sleeping in class.

Midorima flushed at the realization that everyone had caught him in such a childish dispute while Kagami couldn't care less and was shooting daggers at them. It wasn't any of their damn business what they were doing after all.

Many of the students eeped and scampered off at the terrifying glower, the crowd of spectators retreating instantly. Kise gave Kagami an exasperated look and shook his head.

"You didn't have to do that you know."

Kagami twitched. "Then they shouldn't have watched us like we were some kind of circus act." Kagami defended, already feeling the shame of his actions weighing him down. To think he would bicker with Midorima again like a little kid. He was a grown man for god's sake!

Kise involuntarily smiled at the response, amused. There was a thoughtful look on his face that Kagami recognized. It was the same expression he always used when he saw something remarkable that nobody else was paying attention to.

And then the look disappeared and was replaced with a silly pout that befitted him so well, it was almost frightening.

"Though I'm touched that both of you are arguing so passionately about me," this earned a frigid stare from Midorima. "I do mean it, Midorima-cchi." A smirk flickered across Kise's features as a spark ignited in his golden eyes. "I'm battling it out with Kagami-kun first and that's final."

Midorima's lips curled with disdain.

Kagami didn't know what was weirder. The fact that Kise and Midorima were apparently fighting over him, or the lack of –cchi at the end of his name. The honorific to him just didn't seem right after fifteen years of responding to the annoying nickname. A part of him felt a tiny ache of melancholy at this.

Funny how the things he took for granted before and thought of as a hassle was bothering him now that he got his wish. The irony wasn't enjoyable at all.

Midorima in the end turned his head and hmphed. "Be my guest. I don't care what you do."

Kise grinned with a teasing light in his eyes.

"Oh come on, don't get all sulky with me Midorima-cchi! You just want him all to yourself, don't you? That's the  _real_ reason why you've been skipping out on us." He snickered at Midorima's completely flabbergasted expression.

"That's not true!" the green haired teen barked, looking extremely peeved. Right after his outburst, the shooting guard whirled his head toward Kagami, apprehension on his face. It was as if he was expecting some kind of reaction from him.

Kagami, who was long used to Kise's sly jokes and mock insinuations, simply shrugged and rolled his eyes.

"You guys argue like a married couple. You guys together?" He asked in a false, critical tone, causing Midorima to choke and Kise to turn red as a tomato.

"Wha-you-ugh-" Kise strangled out, eyes wide with no hint of earlier amusement present. "Wait, what?!"

Kagami lazily leaned back on his chair and crossed his arms, acting as casual as possible. He still had a detached, oblivious expression slapped on to keep up the charade, inwardly sniggering at how caught off guard the two Miracles were.

"Well, you're the one insinuating that Midorima is gay," Midorima's face paled dramatically, looking too speechless to protest at this point. "so I just assumed from how comfortable you were when touching him that you guys are a thing." He waved a hand languidly in Kise's direction. "I'm guessing you're the girl in the relationship seeing how feminine you look. Your fangirls must be disappointed at the fact you're taken."

Kise spluttered helplessly. "I'm not the girl! And I do  _not_ look feminine damn it! And- Wait, what the hell am I saying?!"

It was  _very_  hard to keep a straight face as Kise's cheeks turned even redder at what his rambling implied while in contrast, Midorima's face had turned stark white, a few veins popping from his forehead.

Kagami was all but ready to bust a gut. Kami, they were making this just too easy!

Pointing at Kagami who was barely holding on to his self-control from the sheer hilariousness of the situation, Midorima cracked.

"Of course we're not in a relationship you imbecile! How dare you even contemplate such a notion! I'd rather burn to the steak and go to the deepest parts of hell!" he yelled with no reservations. "Don't you ever imply something of that nature again or I swear I'll take back my previous statement of you being someone tolerable to deal with!"

Kagami couldn't take it anymore. He burst out into a spasm of laughter, clenching on to his stomach as he doubled over. Kise and Midorima both looked startled at his sudden fit. The red head showed no signs of stopping though, making them a little lost on how to react to his apparently bizarre behavior.

He didn't really care at the moment. He hadn't laughed this hard since Kuroko had managed to get the whole Generation of Miracles,  _including Akashi_ , to wear dollish dresses in order to win a cross-dressing contest at a Magi Burger event. The prize had been a limitless supply of free vanilla milkshakes for two months, a tempting offer to the vanilla crazy loving phantom player. It had only taken one, pleading look from the sixth man for all the Miracles to cave like a bunch of pansies.

The pictures Takao had discreetly taken afterwards had been blackmail material at its finest. Shame he couldn't have brought it along with him when he had travelled to the past.

The red head gave a final snort as he calmed down. He still felt breathless, but in a good way he hadn't felt in a very long time. He was still grinning broadly as he shook his head.

"Sorry, I just couldn't resist. The looks on your faces." He couldn't help but snigger again.

Midorima narrowed his eyes at his words, looking ready to strangle him. Kise, on the other hand, looked comically relieved.

"Does that mean you  _don't_ think we're- well, you know." Kise finished awkwardly, obviously very uncomfortable with the subject. He couldn't seem to look at Midorima in the eye at the moment.

"No, of course not. I was just kidding."

"Well don't." Midorima growled, sounding disgruntled. "I will end you if you attempt to do so again."

Kagami smirked.

"Duly noted."

"Anyways," the blonde quickly intercepted, his eyes still avoiding Midorima as if attempting to erase the embarrassing prank Kagami had pulled on them. "I've been meaning to ask. How long have you played basketball?"

The red head sensed the desperate change of subject and decided to concede to give Kise a break.

"Since I was eight when I first moved to America." He promptly answered.

Midorima looked vaguely impressed. Kise perked up at the mention of the country.

"What's America like? Like, how different is it from Japan?"

"Very different." Kagami cocked his head. "For one thing, middle school starts in sixth or seventh grade and ends in eighth grade, so you would only have two or three years in middle school. High school starts in ninth grade and ends in twelve grade, unlike here that equally splits three years each in middle school and high school. Also, in my school, they didn't really have much of a basketball team."

"Why not?" Kise sounded aghast by the very prospect. The red head shrugged.

"Not that important, I guess. Funding for school equipment and other more promoted clubs took more priority to the school system I suppose. Basketball is taken more seriously in college than in high school in America." Kagami shrugged. "Besides, I didn't join the team since none of the players took basketball seriously enough with studies and life getting in the way. Seemed like a waste of time to me so I just played street basketball."

Kise blinked, looking astonished.

"And you're  _this good_?"

Kagami scratched his cheek, a wash of embarrassment filling him at Kise's overestimation of his abilities. "Well, I did play against other high school teams to test my strength and to get used to the environment. My teacher somehow set up all the matches. Sometimes, we would go to different states just to play a good game."

A fond smile fought its way to his mouth. It really had been fun running across the country everywhere with Tatsuya and Alex. It was something he hadn't done in the original timeline so it had been a new experience even to him.

It had taken a lot of convincing on the blonde woman's part for his parents to allow this, but in the end they agreed as long as he did well in school. Half the times when they were riding in the car, Kagami had to do his projects and homework on the way. It was part of the reason why he even bought a laptop early on just so his messy handwriting wouldn't be even more jostled and messed up every time the car made through a bump in the road.

The road trips were also a way to bond with Tatsuya as both entertained themselves when they got bored and had to share the same room when they stopped by a hotel. It felt like living with a roommate in college, excluding the fact he wasn't in a wheelchair anymore.

And the fact Alex was also sharing with them, claiming with a bright tone that she couldn't just leave her cute students behind.

Kagami hadn't even bothered to argue the fact they were both fourteen years old and that they were just fine on their own. She wouldn't have listened anyway.

There was a longing smile on Kise's face, as if trying to imagine what that had been like.

"Sounds like fun." He said wistfully. "I've never been anywhere except Japan. It must've been great."

Midorima, who had been silent for a while, nodded in agreement, a look of interest on his face.

"What about your studies? You didn't slack off I presume?" Midorima zeroes right in. His tone dared him to say otherwise.

Kagami nearly rolled his eyes from the in character question and nodded.

"Yeah. Gave me a lot of practice on how to do things at the last minute."

Adding to fact he knew the material well enough already had given him a boost on his grades. The amount of work was laughable compared to high school.

The model looked thoughtful for a moment. "So this teacher of yours," he started. "Is the one who taught you how to dunk?"

"Yup." a small, proud grin bloomed as he thought of his crazy, busty mentor. "Taught me everything I know."

Midorima's eyebrows furrowed together with an intent look on his face. He fists were clenched on his lap, knuckles slightly whiter than normal. It looked like he was bracing himself from something before he finally spoke.

"Do you miss America?"

Kagami blinked at the abrupt and out of nowhere question from the green haired teen before he inwardly smiled at the barely portrayed display of emotion his old friend was exhibiting.

"To some degree." he admitted. "But I'm not sad about it. I promised to them that I would become the best basketball player in Japan. I'm not planning on backing down on my word."

Kise looked startled by the daring declaration while Midorima closed his eyes, pushing his glasses up his nose. The fists loosened and the tension left his body. Opening them, his green eyes were made of unmoving steel.

"Like I said before, you'll have to go through us first."

Kagami's grin turned feral.

"I look forward to it."

"Hey!" Kise protested, popping up from the background. He looked indignant. "Don't forget about me! I issued a challenge to him first!"

Midorima looked close to rolling his eyes.

"What are you, five? It doesn't matter who goes first or not you idiot." Midorima sneered. "You're such a child."

"I don't want to hear that from someone who shamelessly clips a  _pink flower hair pin_ on the strap of his bag."

"It's my good luck charm for the day you imbecile."

"I know that! Stop giving me that superior look Midorima-cchi!"

Kagami leaned his head on his hand, covering his mouth as he did so to hide the smile of laughter from breaking out. Seeing the pair bickering like this had always been funny to him with Kise's whiney accusations and Midorima's hot-tempered jabs being thrown together. It was a comedy act all in one. Add in Aomine's stupid behavior and it would make quite a hectic scene to an outsider's point of view.

Idly glancing at the clock in the classroom, he was surprised to see that twenty minutes had flown by from the interaction with the blonde. Seeing the time, he suddenly remembered there was something he had wanted to ask Midorima about yesterday.

"Oi, Midorima."

The argument between the two Miracles abruptly stopped at Kagami's interruption.

"What?" Midorima's mouth curled downwards, displeased to be disrupted from his 'debate' from the blonde. Kagami ignored this and plunged on.

"How did Aomine react from the suggestion I told you about?"

Midorima blinked then snorted.

"Enraged and ready to kill someone."

The red head nodded to himself. He expected this.

"What is he doing in practice right now?" Kagami asked analytically, red eyes flickering while his split eyebrows remained smooth and unruffled. He wanted to know how Akashi ran things during this time when he hadn't been insane. From what he remembered correctly from Kuroko, the Emperor version of the captain had basically given free reign over the Generation of Miracles, not caring at all what they did as long as they did their jobs and won the Teiko team their matches.

"Basic exercises and a lot of laps around the gym. Akashi has been watching over his progress while Coa- Head Coach Sanada has been managing the rest of the team. He is going to play a practice game tomorrow against the second string as a test from Akashi to see if he has learned his lesson yet. If he hasn't, Akashi will continue this training regime."

"That's too soon." Kagami muttered disapprovingly. "I would've expected a couple of weeks to be honest, or at least after the match with Tohoku."

Midorima narrowed his green eyes, long eyelashes fluttering. "Wouldn't that be less strict? His current training is actually easier than what anyone on the team would be used to. There may be more exercises, but playing in mock matches makes for better practice logically wise. To do less than he could may look more lenient to others. We can't afford to let up preparation for future games."

"This isn't about winning or getting better." Kagami said sharply, face turning more severe. Midorima flinched at the hard look. "This is about his attitude. It doesn't matter how well he plays as long as he has a big head. Running and other drills may be less than what he is capable of, but is no less strenuous. Not only that, if he plays tomorrow and destroys the other team like last time, it's just going to reaffirm the belief that everyone is weak and he doesn't need to show respect. The whole point on not letting him play the first official match against Tohoku is the implied threat that it imposes that he may not be allowed to play any other matches in the future. With this in mind, he would have to forcefully make the effort in not belittling his opponents so that he won't be kicked off the team."

"However, if he is allowed to play tomorrow, it means that even with his bad sportsmanship, he will play in future matches. That his current penance is only temporary and he'll only have to wait it out before he can play again. In other words, he'll only pretend to show respect while still not learning the whole point of why he was punished in the first place."

Kagami sneered. "Playacting respect is even worse than to outright not show any. It means you're not being honest and just toying with them while looking down on them while they're giving it their all. The moment the opponent knows this – and trust me, they will – they'll just stop trying all together and break at that knowledge. Nobody likes to be played around like food. It's downright disgusting."

Midorima looked disturbed by the scenario he painted. He noticed Kise was also staring at him, having listened to what he was saying the entire time. There was a flickering look of wracked shame on his face as he looked down to his shoes as if it was the most interesting sight in the world.

Kagami felt his brief flash of anger fade at the expressions and inwardly sighed.

He hadn't meant to say the last part so vehemently.  _But_ , he thought with firm conviction,  _he didn't regret saying it._

They needed to know that it really wasn't okay to do something like that in the later future. Judging from Kise's guilty face at his last two sentences, the blonde probably had been thinking in that direction. At least both the Miracles weren't so lost to not realize to some degree that it was wrong.

The red head closed his eyes. This was the problem with geniuses. Once they got it in their head that they're the best, they think whatever rules or beliefs they have were always in the right. After all, if everyone couldn't prove them wrong, it must mean they're never wrong. The logic was flawed, but who could blame the geniuses for thinking like that?

Hell, look at Akashi! It had taken him  _forever_ to realize he wasn't always absolute, that there were things out there even he didn't know and somebody else did.

Kagami deeply exhaled, destroying the somber atmosphere that had descended over the Miracles while they had mulled over his words, and began to stretch out his arms over his head.

"Well, anyway, that's just a friendly warning. But don't take it lightly and try to tread sensibly from now on so you won't become that arrogant one day. Geniuses or not, you guys are human too." Kagami gave a small, sharp smile. "So just be careful is all I'm saying."

While Midorima simply nodded curtly at the warning, there was a strange look on Kise's face. A spark of understanding lit up his amber eyes before he finally smirked and, to Kagami's surprise, started to laugh. The sound was soft and not at all as loud and obnoxious as usual, a sort of calmness spreading over his face.

"Mah, so you're the one who came up with Aomine-cchi's punishment. To be honest," he turned to Midorima with his smirk growing. "I'm more surprised that Midorima-cchi gave that piece of advice to Akashi. And that Akashi actually agreed to it."

For some reason, as Midorima grimaced at having Kise look at him with such a cocky expression, Kagami felt wary by the blonde's tone. It felt like the calm before the storm, as if the Copy Cat was taking inventory of everything and probably making disturbingly accurate conclusions about the red head. He always hated how Kise was able to read other people so easily, yet always put on his silly persona to hide his intellect and assumptions to himself.

Once the blonde was following you, you can never shake him off.

"I only did it because I disagree with Aomine's behavior as of late as well. It is making the team look bad in front of other schools." Midorima growled, irritated.

To the shooter's growing agitation, Kise only gave a sly grin at that.

"Sure, let's go with that." Kise said easily. Anyone could see that Midorima was simply worried about his teammate.

Kise got up from the chair and cracked his stiff neck. The model casually put his hands in his pockets and strode toward the door that led to outside the classroom, whole frame relaxed. Glancing behind him, he gave a cheeky wink and nodded to Kagami.

"I'll see you tomorrow at the gym Kagami-cchi! You better not be late!" he warned lightly.

With that, the blond left a slightly dumbstruck Kagami in his wake.

Kagami stared at the door, feeling stunned by the nickname. Didn't the blonde just call him Kagami-kun ten minutes ago? What the hell changed for him to earn the nickname again? Running the conversation in his head, the red head came up with a blank.

Midorima must've seen his confusion because he simply huffed and shook his head.

"Kise adds –cchi at the end of people's names to those he respects." He explained, completely misinterpreting his expression.

"Oh, uh, okay." Kagami managed to say, still bewildered. After a few minutes of trying to figure out Kise's motives, he figuratively threw his hands up in the air and gave up.

He'll never understand that guy.

**-A-**

On Thursday, Kagami found himself in front of the enormous gym that towered over him. Maybe it was because of the tense atmosphere, but the building seemed taller than some of the skyscrapers he's seen in some cities in America. The place was ridiculously huge. And apparently, there were two identical domes like this one for the other strings.

A part of him dryly wondered where the hell the school got the amount of money to build all this.

Twisting his hands agitatedly, he knew he was a nervous wreck. He barely had any sleep last night and had tossed and turned, too agitated to rest.

What if he messed up? What if his purpose for being brought to the past would be for naught and the Generation of Miracles will become egotistical douchebags just like the first time around no matter what he did?

And when these doubts plagued him, he would then firmly remind himself that there was no way he could know unless he goes through this ordeal and not run away.

Kagami cynically snorted to himself.

Easier said than done.

For the hundredth time today, he really wished that Midorima was here as a solid pillar of calm. Unfortunately, the green haired shooter had announced to him during lunch that he had to be on time for practice and couldn't 'dilly dally' whatsoever. He had, quote on quote, said 'I wish to not die at an early age since being late is strictly prohibited by Akashi.'

Seeing how he had gone somewhat pale at the very thought of the brought up scenario instigated some sympathy from Kagami. Riko had been no push over when it came to tardiness too.

Taking a deep breath and telling himself unconvincingly that nothing was going to go wrong, he pushed through the doors and entered in the gymnasium with trepidation.

Just as the outside of the building suggested, the inside of it was  _huge._  The size of it was intimidating and impressive to Kagami who had seen many school gyms in his life from how many practice games he had attended when he had been a coach, not to mention the amount of school gyms he had played in in America. The whole place was filled up with players, so many that Kagami was amazed by the very idea of having to manage so many people at once. He suddenly felt a new respect for Akashi after seeing the chaotic order taking place.

He felt the whole world come to a screeching stop when he easily spotted the colorful bunch in the bright gym. His breathing hitched and his eyes widened in shock at what he was seeing.

He didn't know what he had expected, but it was anything but this.

Because the first thing that popped in his head when he saw them was,  _Fuck, they're a bunch of kids!_

He knew it was stupid and somewhat repetitive at this point to be thinking this by now. He had seen Tatsuya look gangly and teenagerish when he had first woken up in this strange but unfamiliar world. Since he had grown up with the guy, it hadn't been too hard to adjust. He had seen Alex look young and spunky again, not that she had lost any of the latter in her later years.

He had gotten used to Midorima look more open and actually somewhat more talkative than even a year from now. As for Kise, he honestly hadn't looked that much different except for his height and the lack of stress lines people inevitably have when they have to make a living for themselves. Add to the fact this was a year before he had actually met both Miracles before everything went to hell made them look even younger and less guarded than ever. They looked less world-weary, still hoping and dreaming about the endless possibilities of the future, still firmly passionate about basketball.

But this, this just blew his mind and made him face the fact that he really was stuck in the past.

He couldn't make out all the details from the distance – he was no Takao or Izuki-senpai – but it was enough for him to pick out how staggering  _small_ they looked from where he was standing.

He watched with a weird twist in his stomach as Akashi lectured Murasakibara with an exasperated – nowhere  _near_ as bothered as the Akashi he knew would've been – air around him for snacking in the middle of the court and how Kuroko watched all this with amusement. Kise seemed to be whining about something to Aomine, instantly causing the dark skinned teenager – teenager, Aomine was a fucking  _teenager_  – to scowl. Midorima was pushing up his glasses and sighing, looking frustrated at the fact nobody was practicing yet.

It was like stepping into the twilight zone, only this was all very  _very_  permanent.

And it was only when he noticed how close they were all standing, how at ease they were at each other in a way Kagami had never seen before did it really hit him how much was at stake.

Because if he failed, the comradeship that was plainly displayed before him would crumble and shatter into a thousand pieces, impossible to completely put back together again as perfectly as it was before.

A strike of determination seized the future light of Seirin as he made the silent vow to keep the unspoiled scene he was seeing intact because shit, there was no way in hell he was ever going to let them destroy themselves until they became unrecognizable.

"Eh? Kagami-cchi! You came!"

Kise's shout didn't go unnoticed to everyone in the gym as the blonde practically sprinted toward the tall red head as if he was some long lost friend he hadn't seen in years, not someone he just saw yesterday. All the Miracles paused in what they're doing and turned to look to the entrance where Kagami was stuck standing.

For the sake of not wanting to give a bad impression, Kagami managed a weak smile and gave a short, awkward wave to him.

"Yo Kise." He strangled out.

Kise didn't seem at all bothered by the lackluster greeting and sunnily grinned.

"You're a bit late. What happened?" Kise chirped, legs jumping up and down like the hyperactive child he was.

Kagami rolled his eyes and jerked a thumb behind him to outside. He deftly hid the relief he felt from the distraction Kise was unknowingly providing. It cleared his head a bit more from the mixed feelings he had at seeing his once upon a time rivals looking like teenagers again. "It took me a while to know which gym I was supposed to go to. Neither of you mentioned that there were  _three gyms_  at this school in the first place. I had to ask a second year where the hell you guys were."

Kise rubbed the back of his head sheepishly at Kagami's condemning glare.

"Well, we just figured you knew?" he said with a questioning lilt at the end.

Kagami sighed and unthinkingly punched the blonde's shoulder casually and enough for it to hurt a little. Kise winced at the pain but looked surprised by the friendly gesture, something that Kagami chose to ignore. Old habits die hard.

"Just tell me these things next time, got it?" Kagami said gruffly. "Make sure to pass that on to Midorima too."

Kise looked ready to say something but stopped himself, closing his open mouth with an audible click before nodding. Without warning, his hand latched onto his arm and started to insistently tug him toward where the other curious Miracles were brazenly observing.

"Anway, now that you're here, come on! Everyone's waiting!" Kise complained as Kagami refused to budge from the spot he was standing on.

A flash of panic flooded before he mentally smacked himself on the head, scolding him to get a move on because Kise was making a scene. Straightening his shoulders, he prepared himself for his impending doom.

"Lead the way." he said more confidently than he felt.

He must've not sounded convincing because a look of sympathy crossed the blonde's face before he started to pull the red head toward the group. "Don't worry. They're gonna love you, I promise!"

_I seriously doubt that._

**-A-**

Daiki raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, watching. He didn't look impressed.

"Huh. So that's your new buddy?"

Shintarou's eye twitched in irritation before he shot the power forward a glare.

"For the last time, he is not a  _buddy._  He is simply someone in my class that Akashi has an interest in."

"Uhuh." the dark skinned teen's response practically oozed disbelief.

Akashi resisted the urge to rub his forehead as the two bickered. Honestly, it was like dealing with a bunch of children. Glancing at the taller red head who was currently talking to Kise, he noticed how animated the blonde was acting. He had a genuine carefree smile that reached his eyes, a fact that was startling to the captain.

Akashi, who always had the best intentions in mind to the people under him, even if said people don't like his decisions, knew his teammates quite well. It is the captain's duty to always know the wellbeing of his team, and Akashi took that to heart with ready intensity. To put it shortly, he knew all his players at a level that probably would frighten them if they ever knew how much he picked up from simply observing them.

Akashi had learned a long time ago that while Ryouta really was a dopy buffoon, he didn't trust people too easily, keeping people away at an arm's length with hidden contempt and disinterest. Looking at the blonde's track record when it came to any activity that he easily became affiliated with, such a response is not surprising.

So when Ryouta had cheerfully told the team nearly half an hour beforehand that he had already met the mysterious transfer student, the Miracles, including Akashi, had been baffled. For the blonde, who never shut up about his day and outright complained about the rigorous practices Akashi forced them to do, to wait until the last minute to tell all of them was unheard of.

And when Atsushi inquired with childish irritation why he didn't say anything, all Ryouta did was give an enigmatic smile, eyes sparkling in mischief.

_'That would ruin the surprise, don't you think? All I can say is that he's a pretty cool guy.'_

The rare sincerity in his tone had puzzled the captain, invoking his intrigue further for the student who seemed to have caught Shintarou in his web.

Judging from the almost familiar way the red head was treating the blonde, who in response looked surprised and subtly pleased, it seemed Ryouta has been caught as well.

Glancing to Shintarou, who was secretly watching the exchange from the corner of his eye, he cleared his throat which caught the green haired teen's attention immediately.

"Is there anything I should know about him in advance?" Akashi asked calmly. Shintarou shifted his glasses contemplatively before he spoke.

"Honestly, though I've known him for weeks now, I can't read him well and cannot formulate a solid analysis." The captain blinked at the admission. Shintarou always had an opinion to everything. It was perplexing that he didn't for his classmate.

The shooter narrowed his eyes. "However, there is one thing I am absolutely certain of." He paused, a frown marring his face. "He is contradictory to a degree where it's most vexing. You never know what to expect from him."

Akashi saw Ryouta start to drag the reluctant enigma toward them and smiled chillingly.

A challenge then.

Sounds appealing.

The two teens reached the Miracles, Ryouta elated while the red head looked subdued. Skipping – honest to god  _skipping_  – to their direction, Ryouta gave an almost blinding grin and pushed the red head to the front, causing the huge teen to stumble forward. For a split second, Kagami Taiga looked ready to commit homicide but quickly tucked the expression away and replaced it with a grimace.

His attention swerved to Shintarou before he gave a curt nod in greeting, to which the shooter graciously did back as well. The exchange was cordial yet held no reservations. Akashi swore he just imagined the faint smile that barely lifted the green haired teen's lips when he turned away.

If Akashi had been told two weeks ago that Shintarou was capable of being sociable to someone not part of the Generation of Miracles, Akashi would've considered the person telling him this insane to suggest such an improbable scenario.

So yes, it was quite surreal and foreboding to contemplate on where this 'friendship' could go.

Ryouta, who had missed the murder intent the red head had briefly exhibited, clapped a hand on the red head's shoulder and patted it enthusiastically.

"So, this is Kagami Taiga! Kagami-cchi, this is the Generation of Miracles! Everybody, greet yourselves!" the blonde ordered with an annoying smirk. If Akashi had been a lesser man, he would've punched his stupid face by now for giving an order to  _him._

At the back of his mind, he registered the nickname and wondered what on earth happened when the two met for the transfer student to already win Ryouta's respect.

Akashi stifled his irritation and stepped up smoothly. He took note how the transfer student gave him a cautionary gaze, back straight and impressively poised.

Akashi internally quirked up a brow. It seemed he had some self-control lessons. Quick to annoyance, yet quicker to hiding it.

Safely putting this away, he smiled amicably. He held out his hand to the fellow red head and nearly smirked when Kagami peered at him with suspicion.

Ah. So he wasn't stupid at the very least. The abroad student recognized his attempt to have him lower his guard down by familiarizing himself using the American gesture of greeting instead of bowing.

Despite this, Kagami grasped his hand and firmly shook it. Akashi finally spoke.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Kagami Taiga. I am Akashi Seijuro, captain of the basketball team."

"I know." the red head responded briskly as he let go. The low timber of his voice would've sounded like a growl to anyone else. "Hard to forget the name of the guy who forced me to come here against my will." his tone took a dry turn, face deadpan.

Behind him, Akashi felt the Miracles stiffen behind him at the point blank comment but didn't take offense to it. Logically, anyone would react like this if stuck in such a situation.

"I was simply curious over Midorima's choice of friend." he said lightly. Kagami snorted.

"Overprotective much?"

Akashi smiled sharply. "I am their captain. It's in my job description unfortunately."

Daiki snorted, a low mutter of ' _More like mother hen you mean.'_ under his breathe which earned a jab in the stomach from Tetsuya. The power forward whined pitifully in pain as he went on his knees while holding his abdomen, shooting the passing expert a glare. The teen simply stared on neutrally with not a hint of guilt in his blue eyes.

Akashi looked to Kagami again and straightened, taken aback by the wistful glaze of his red eyes that seemed to have turned into a darker color. It only lasted a second before it converted into a stone like quality that would've made Shintarou proud. Though the look was gone, Akashi had to speculate.

Did the two players remind him of something? He had looked at the pair as if seeing something else entirely, as if remembering an old memory.

The thought he could be overthinking this never crossed the Akashi heir's mind. He's never wrong.

He was so busy with this thought process, that it almost escaped his notice that  _Kagami wasn't reacting to Tetsuya_. In fact, he seemed almost unfazed by his presence. Maybe he hadn't spotted him yet?

Akashi narrowed his eyes.

No. He definitely noticed him. He hadn't been looking at Daiki but Kuroko when he had watched the scene, fixated on him really.

Kagami narrowed his eyes before he snapped his attention to the shorter teen.

"So, you gonna introduce them or not?" there was amusement on his face. "I don't think the ganguro can talk at the moment."

Akashi ignored the swear words that were wheezing out of Daiki's mouth and nodded with the quirk of his mouth. Ryouta was snickering from the background.

Gesturing to the group, he started from the left. "As you probably already know, Shintarou is the shooting guard. Murasakibara Atsushi is our center. Aomine Daiki, power forward, and Ryouta is our small forward. I am the point guard in the team." he carefully watched Kagami's reaction at his next intro. "And Kuroko Tetsuya, the team's sixth man."

Kagami nodded, looking completely unfazed by the last player's insertion, and quickly sketched a short bow.

"Good to meet you I guess." he smirked and jerked his head in Tetsuya's direction. "You've got a mean right hook. Nice."

The whole team looked stunned into a stupor, Atsushi's eyes wide with Shintarou looking like his whole world had turned upside down. Daiki openly gawked, pain forgotten, while Ryouta's jaw reached to his knees.

As for Tetsuya, who could probably not even bat an eye if the apocalypse came towering over Earth, looked like he was actually making an effort to keeping a straight face on.

"... Thank you." he said quietly, something like a bit of bewilderment in his tone. "Though I don't quite know if that is a good thing to be complimented by."

"Just take it as it is. I don't toss around praises so easily." Kagami abolished, eyeballing to the ceiling.

Daiki looked ready to burst. Jumping to his feet agilely, he jabbed a finger to Kagami.

"Wait a damn second! You can see Tetsu?" the dark skinned teen demanded.

Kagami looked at him with a blank expression.

"Uh, yes?" he said awkwardly, scratching his ear. "How can I not? He's standing right in front of me."

"But-You-That is-" Tetsuya's light spluttered. Ryouta looked ready to do the same.

Before things could get out of hand, Akashi raised a hand in a stopping motion, making Daiki instantly snap his mouth shut. For once though, he really couldn't blame the power forward for overreacting.

Someone could see Tetsuya in an instant. It's as if his low presence had no effect at all. That was both fascinating and troubling.

Because if one person could do it, it meant someone else could. And if they ever faced against someone like that, well, it would make things difficult.

Aside from that though, was something even more worth his attention.

Because for the first time in his life, he doesn't know something. He has no idea how Kagami Taiga of all people was able to see Testuya. He could feel something dangerous about the teen, yet he hadn't displayed anything that can implicate he has a special ability of some sort.  _He couldn't read him._

Just who was Kagami Taiga?

Pushing all this away, Akashi spoke with a soft but dominating tone.

"I believe it's best that everyone begins practice now. I will be talking to Kagami. Alone." he didn't miss how Shintarou frowned deeply at this, his hands clenching around the squirrel figurine. Ryouta looked frantic and anxious.

"But Akashi-cchi-"

"Would you like me to double your laps Ryouta?" he said pleasantly, causing the blonde to go pale. "Do not disobey me. Understood?"

Ryouta looked ready to foolishly argue but thought better of it, mumbling an "I understand." with petulance.

Seeing the reluctant nods from the rest of the Miracles, his voice took on a commanding quality.

"Everyone will have to go through the normal routines quickly since we've wasted enough time already. Daiki, you will be playing a practice match in half an hour. Do not slack off or I will continue your punishment."

Daiki's face darkened. "Fine."

At the edge of his vision, he saw Kagami purse his lips with disapproval in his fierce red eyes, instigating startled anger inside Akashi.

Was that look directed at  _him_?

The Miracles turned their backs to them and walked off, Ryouta continuingly glancing back with a worried expression. Akashi uncharacteristically wanted to roll his eyes. He wasn't going to kill the red head for heaven's sake.

Turning to the benches, Akashi nearly glided away and only paused briefly to see an uncertain looking Kagami stay in place.

With a small sigh, he kept going.

"Follow me."

**-A-**

He was screwed.

The pessimistic thought entered in without permission. He was so _so_ screwed.

Looking to the shorter red head sitting on his left on the bench, he felt a strong sense of déjà vu.

How many times had he and the former Rakuzen captain sat side by side whenever Kagami asked for the occasional advice when it came to being a leader? He may have been the ace of Seirin, but that hadn't meant he was a leader. Heck, Kuroko probably had more experience from how he easily commandeered the Generation of Miracles like a mother duck with a row of ducklings waddling behind her.

“So,” Akashi began smoothly, not even turning to look at him. Despite this, Kagami knew he was intently watching. “why are you friends with Shintarou?”

Kagami bristled at the implication he had ulterior reasons but conceded the point in his mind. Technically, he kinda _was_ manipulating their friendship, seeing how he already knew everything about the shooter and understood him already.

“He’s a good guy.” He said curtly. “What other reason would I have?”

Akashi glanced at him for a second before his gaze flickered back to the court.

“And you don’t think some of his habits are strange?” he delved in further. Kagami internally sighed at the interrogation, somewhat amused and exasperated. He felt like some kind of criminal with the way the red head was treating him.

“Yeah, but who doesn’t have some weird perks?” Thoughts of Seirin and the other members of the Generation of Miracles particularly came to mind. He had to stifle a smile at the thought of their many antics.

The shorter teen bowed his head a fraction in agreement, quietness starting to fill the gap as the interrogation halted for a moment.

"What do you disapprove of me?"

Kagami turned his head to see not mismatched eyes staring him down - or up, seeing how he was shorter - and blinked, perplexed.

Akashi must've noticed because his eyes turned to slits, gaze sharp as a knife. "I saw you frowning when I gave Daiki those orders. Why?"

Kagami stared and couldn't help but snigger, gaining a frown from the other red head.

Of course Akashi noticed. Kagami wasn't surprised. Though the fact he didn't have the Emperor's Eye yet had still been able to catch his look was nothing short of incredible.

"He shouldn't be playing matches by now." Kagami stated bluntly. "Otherwise, his probation is gonna come out completely fruitless."

"Why do you say that?" Akashi sounded smooth as ice, his frame rigid. Kagami rested his elbows on his thigh as he rested his chin on top of his knitted fingers.

"The whole point of not letting him play was supposed to be a threat that he could be kicked out. Like you said, a player is useless if he doesn't listen." a flicker of recognition sparked at these words. "And if he wins, which I don't doubt he will, it's just going to boost his ego. That's the last thing you need."

He emphasized the 'you' to direct the fact Aomine wasn't his responsibility, but Akashi's. However, the red head took it the wrong way.

"I am testing him. It's not even a proper match." he said frigidly.

"Same thing. A game's a game, no matter how you look at it." Kagami countered. "And knowing your teammate, do you honestly think what I just said doesn't have at least some value?"

"You don't know this team."

"I know enough." flashes of Kuroko's dead eyes made him tighten his fingers more together. "Midorima told me some things."

"And that makes you an expert?" the red head's voice was low and dangerous. "Don't tell me how to run my team."

Kagami sighed, frustrated. "I'm not. I'm just giving you advice since I'm kinda, you know, worried."

"Why?" Akashi asked again, making Kagami cringe at the icy tone. "Why do you care?"

Kagami sighed and rubbed the back of his head furiously. His hair was probably a mess from the action.

"Because they remind me of a team I knew a while ago." he admitted, casting his eyes downward as memories clouded his senses. "Looking at this team, I'm afraid that it'll happen all over again."

He wasn't lying of course, but he wasn't telling the full truth. While he did prefer telling things as it is, he learned through the school system that half-truths can be necessary at times.

For some reason, the explanation instantaneously made the red head's anger deplete, face calculative and incomprehensible. Closing his eyes, the captain turned to look at the players on the court.

"I appreciate your concern." he began firmly. "But I believe one practice match won't be concerning. I need to see for myself if Daiki understands my logic."

Kagami's face shadowed at his words, haunted.

"One time is all it takes." he said quietly, causing Akashi to crease his forehead. Before he could say anything, the sound of a whistle broke the tension as both spectators looked to see Aomine coming on court, rolling his shoulders as he stepped up.

It was still weird to see his rival wearing blue and white instead of Touou's black and red uniforms. The whiteness made the dark skinned teen stand out, let alone the powerful aura Kagami could feel even from all the way here.

He watched with sharp eyes as Aomine looked ready to bolt at the drop of a hat, waiting for the tip off. His gaze looked more focused than Kagami had seen him the first time they met in his timeline, not a hint of laziness present.

Despite this though, something was...  _wrong._

He felt dread as the team got the ball and passed it automatically to Teiko's ace, who didn't hesitate to speed through the court with lightning quickness. When he dunked the ball, it came down with a slam, the sound deafening to Kagami's ears. There was no satisfaction on Aomine's face, no sense of accomplishment apparent. Instead, there was disappointment and bitterness eating him away as the game progressed, both emotions growing more and more profound.

So when Aomine had marched up to one of the opposing team's players who looked like he had just dunked himself into a pool, Kagami thought he was prepared for the worst.

Unfortunately, he was mistaken.

There was an almost furtive, raging emotion storming on the power forward's face as he loomed over the inches shorter player. Then, he opened that big, stupid mug of his.

"What the  _fuck_ were you  _doing_? Were you even  _trying_ you  _son of a bitch_?! Stop screwing around damn it!" he spat, eyes wild.

Kagami was thunderstruck from the lack of control he was witnessing. Never has he seen such a burst of emotion from the Aomine he had known. It would've been a miracle if he showed anything at all other than his complete nonchalance over any situation.

 _But this Aomine,_ he thought with an alarmed frown,  _this Aomine looks frenzied and lost, as if he's losing hope._

Hope for finding anyone who could match up to him, that he'll never have a good game of basketball again. He wasn't at that stage where he had completely given up, but it looked like he was coming close from how much he looked ready to shout and scream at the world.

However, Kagami narrowed his steely eyes, that did not excuse his behavior right now.

The player was shaking in his sneakers, looking absolutely terrified. "B-But I am trying Aomine-kun. Really, you're just too good."

Aomine recoiled as if he was hit, eyes wide and broken before his dark blue eyes turned into a shade of unending black.

" _I'm_ too good?" he scoffed, an arrogant mask plastered on. "Don't you mean the other way around? I bet even Kuroko could've passed that crappy defense you got going there. You know what?" Aomine laughed, sending a chill down Kagami's spine. "Why don't you just quit? After all, a useless player is a useless player." he added cruelly in such an obvious tone, as if it was a statement that the younger player should know. The twisting of Akashi's words was Kagami's breaking point.

Without thinking, he leapt up from the bench, ignoring Akashi calling to him, and strode forward to Aomine. A boiling sensation sat at the bottom of his stomach, threatening to overflow. Shoving it down viciously, he kept going.

"Aomine!" he barked. Both players whirled around to look at him, the second year confused and fearful. Aomine snarled savagely.

"What the hell are you doing?" he hissed, muscles tight as if ready to deck someone. "What, you're gonna defend this piece of crap?"

Kagami again had to remind himself that this was a fifteen year old version of his rival, someone who he couldn't start a fist fight with, no matter how tempting it was.

"Calm down you idiot." he said evenly. "You shouldn't take out your anger on him. He's just trying to do his job."

Aomine sneered.

"Try? If that's the case, why can't he stop me?"

 _Why can't anyone?_ Those words were not said, yet Kagami could hear it loud and clear like a blood curling scream.

Kagami's expression cooled as he latched onto all the patience he could muster. He'll just have to treat this stupid brat like any of his old players he used to teach.

"Well, for one thing, he's second string. There's a reason why there are three separate gyms you know. Another thing, he's your opponent. Show some respect for god’s sake. Anyone, no matter how bad they seem to you, deserve at least that."

Aomine stared at him for a long moment before he threw back his head and roared with laughter, the hollow sound not at all pleasing to hear. Once he finished, a disturbingly empty smirk flashed across his features before he said his next words.

“Respect? Respect who? Why should I respect someone who can’t beat me? Does that mean I have to be nice to every Tom, Dick, or Harry that comes my way every time I play? Isn’t it their fault for being so weak? Why am I always getting the blame?” he shook his head. “You know, you sound a lot like Tetsu for some reason. It kinda pisses me off since only he gets to say those kind of things.” A grim look flashed before it returned to egotistical.

“Besides, _the only one who can beat me is me_.”

Kagami stared.

And no, it wasn’t because of his all too familiar words that he was staring. It wasn’t because he was acting almost identical to the pre-Aomine before the Winter Cup in their first year.

No, what had caught the red head aback was how utterly _fake_ the cockiness looked on the power forward’s face. He looked sad and lost like a child, trying to cover up his unhappiness with false bravado because that’s what ‘big boys’ do, which was utterly stupid to Kagami.

This couldn’t be his rival. This couldn’t be the smug bastard who had beaten him again and again at every one on one game they had against each other until Kagami surpassed him altogether, both being on equal grounds. The Aomine he knew might’ve been a douchebag, but not once did Kagami ever think he was weak. Not in basketball and definitely not in life. He was one of the strongest people Kagami had ever faced up against, pushing him up and kicking him down at every opportunity. They might not have gotten along, but they had respected each other in more ways than just the sport.

So to see this young teen wear the face of a man who didn’t even _know_ the meaning of fear sent a burning sensation in his chest before it finally exploded.

He wasn’t sympathetic or horrified by this revelation.

No, he was absolutely _livid_ because Aomine looked pathetic and spineless and everything he wasn’t. He was _seething_ because how dare he feel all sorry for himself without even thinking about what the others felt.

And Kuroko – oh god _Kuroko_ – had to face the pain of being left behind all alone and this all started because Aomine’s big head couldn’t see past how much he was hurting everyone around him and how much he had. Until this very day, Kagami still didn’t understand why neither Momoi nor Kuroko had abandoned the monkey Ahomine when they had the chance. That guy was a fucking lucky piece of shit and he wasn’t even _aware_ of it.

So it wasn’t surprising at all, at least in Kagami’s mind, what happened next.

He snapped.

**-A-**

Midorima had predicted from the very start that the two wouldn’t get along.

Call it intuition, but he just knew it even before the red headed teen had entered in the gymnasium that things weren’t going to turn out well for anyone. Because when two forces clashed, they tend to destroy everything in their path.

But he had hoped to some degree that Kagami wouldn’t rise to the not so elusive baits Aomine would no doubt lay for him. To Midorima’s relief, Kagami hadn’t.

It had been a surprise though to find out that Kagami was supposedly immune to Kuroko’s vanishing presence. It made him mull over the possibilities that could happen in the future since Teiko has not yet faced an opponent who wasn’t affected by the phantom sixth man.

And when Akashi whisked Kagami away, the green haired teen had felt weary by the prospect but shrugged it off. The worst was over. What could possibly go wrong?

He should’ve known better not to ask.

The moment he saw Kagami trek to where Aomine was, face suspiciously solemn, he had to stifle the urge to not commit suicide just so he would save himself the misery from witnessing the inevitable storm that was going to brew.

And he wasn’t disappointed. The two sniped at each other, Kagami collected and rational while Aomine lashed out with everything he had. For a split second, Midorima thought Kagami would take the chance to walk away from this argument, or disregard Aomine’s words that sent an uncomfortable feeling in the shooter’s gut.

All of those promising expectations fell to pieces when Aomine stated his philosophy in one line, which looked more and more like a fact to the Miracles as well.

Something started to shape the red head’s features, his whole body reacting as well to Aomine’s last sentence. Midorima has seen Kagami look irritated, nervous, nostalgic – an expression that Midorima still didn’t quite understand – and amused.

But the look on his face went beyond outrage or annoyance. It wasn’t just angry either. There was a brightness in his crimson slit eyes that looked like the color of blood more than ever before, lips curled into a snarl that resembled a tiger like his namesake.

He didn’t just look angry.

He looked _enraged_. Like an animal. A beast.

A _monster._

And just for a second, a part of him whispered that maybe to both his enemies and allies on court, he himself looked like that too.

Aomine didn’t back down from the monstrous gaze and instead smirked. The player next to him looked ready to wet his pants.

“Hah? You mad or something? You shouldn’t have butted in if you were just going to waste time-”

“Hey kid.” Contradicting his expression, his dark voice didn’t raise. “You didn’t do anything wrong, so go back to practicing something else for a while. I’m going to have a talk with this idiot.”

The second year let out a, ‘Yes sir!’ with an honest to Kami salute before running for his life from the two monsters that were staring each other down. Aomine looked pissed.

“What the hell was that?” Aomine was offended. That damn foolish pride of his was going to get him killed one day. “You just interrupted me-”

“Shut up brat.” Kagami bit with bite. He didn’t seem to care that Aomine bristled at the nickname. “I have a question for you.”

“Why should I answer-”

 _“I have a question for you._ ”

Kagami’s voice reverberated in the silent gym as everyone watched, all unable to tear away from the scene. His voice was treacherous and close to cracking. Midorima didn’t know what the hell would happen if he really did crack, and really didn’t want to know.

For the first time since the conversation started, Aomine noticed the level of tension that was sizzling in the room. He narrowed his eyes but didn’t say anything, which Midorima took as a sign he was listening.

Kagami continued.

“From that last thing you just said, I’m assuming that when you say that, teamwork is not necessary in your mind. That no matter what, you will always win, even when you’re on your own.” His eyes were dead serious and were flaming infernos. “Do you really believe that?”

Aomine had the nerve to scoff.

“Yeah, what of it?”

At the side, Midorima managed to find Kuroko in the crowd. He mentally winced when he saw the barely stricken look on the phantom player’s face, his fingers clenching on to the basketball he was holding so tight that his knuckles were turning white. He looked so tiny as he seemed to internally curl in himself as if to try to deny what he had just heard.

That senseless _Ahomine_.

Kagami gave a razor sharp smile, eyes fierce.

“Oh really?” he said nearly mildly. “You do realize basketball is a team sport, right? Every person has their own job and have their own agendas and goals in the mix. So to say you play alone, what does that make everyone else?”

“Trash.” Aomine retorted immediately. Kagami quirked up a challenging eyebrow.

“Even the Miracles?”

Aomine faltered. Kagami kept going.

“If you had the choice,” Kagami said in a low tone. “would you not _want_ to play with them anymore?”

The power forward flinched but didn’t say a word, lost on how to respond. For some odd reason, a miniscule smile flitted across Kagami’s face at his reaction, as if seeing something encouraging about it. Without warning, Kagami turned around and walked toward Akashi who Midorima was startled to realize had been watching the entire time, having chased after Kagami when he had bolted.

The shorter red head had his arms crossed, his face completely unreadable. He was standing right outside the court, only a few meters away.

It was impossible to guess what was looping around in his head. Kagami didn’t seem bothered and ambled toward him purposely until they were face to face. Despite the height difference, they truly looked like equals as they stood in front of each other. Aomine had the sense to not say anything since his captain was here, though he didn’t look too happy that Kagami had just abruptly left him in the dust.

Kagami exhaled, murderous rage fading away though the intimidating aura was still permeating the air.

“Akashi.” Kagami started confidently. “I want to propose a challenge to Aomine.”

Confusion suffocated the air as murmurs slowly filled the room. Midorima’s eyebrows shot to the hairline in utter befuddlement, his mind working overdrive as he tried and failed to see the logic in Kagami’s next move. Just what the hell was this guy thinking?

If Akashi was surprised by the request, he didn’t show it.

“Why are you asking me?” he queried steadily, as if they were just commenting on the weather. Kagami nodded at him formally.

“He’s your charge, captain.” He answered shortly as if that explained everything, a knowing look on his face.

Akashi stared at him for a long time before slowly, a smirk crept up the edges of his mouth.

“Name your challenge.”

Kagami crossed his arms, mimicking Akashi. “A team challenge. In three weeks time, both Aomine and I will have a match along with our chosen teammates, all who attend Teiko. Neither of us will receive outside help on who to choose and how to train for the upcoming weeks. Also, to make this more interesting, the teammates _I_ pick will not have any current affiliation with the basketball club. In other words,” Kagami grinned ferociously, eyes burning. “Any teammates I pick will be Teiko students who aren’t part of the basketball team right now.”

Exclamations of disbelief and some even in outrage cried out in the room, making the previously dead gym come back to life. Aomine looked ready to blow a gasket, rage evident in his dark blue eyes.

“What?!” he shouted, looking ready to pummel Kagami. “Are you shitting me? What kind of rule is that? It won’t even be a match!”

Kagami grinned unrepentantly, crimson dancing like open flames. “What? You scared you’ll lose? Don’t underestimate me brat.”

“Who are you calling a brat?” Aomine demanded incredulously. “You’re the same age as me!”

“Not mentally!”

“Enough.” Akashi’s voice cut through the noise, his cool tone noticeable. Looking to Kagami, he glared.

“What is the purpose of this challenge? What will be gained?” he demanded, his commanding tone not deterring Kagami at all.

Kagami looked thoughtful before he crookedly grinned. “What do you want the stakes to be?” he questioned back, avoiding the first query. Akashi looked slightly miffed but let it slide, face calculative as he really thought over the question. Something must’ve came to him because a self-satisfied smile lifted the red head’s face, immediately making Midorima weary. That expression never meant good news.

“If Daiki wins and I deem you as someone good enough to join the first string, you will voluntarily have to join the basketball club from the bottom. And you cannot be permitted to quit, not until my say so.”

Midorima blinked at the condition, surprised. Maybe Akashi sensed something in Kagami like he did with Kuroko?

Kagami grimaced, looking displeased by the very prospect. “Fine. I accept your condition. But if I win,” he shrugged and simply smirked. “you owe me one favor. Any favor to my choosing and you can’t refuse.”

Akashi didn’t look at all nervous at the prospect of that happening and smirked back.

“Deal.”

“Wait a damn second!” both players looked in Aomine’s direction when he hollered, his dark cheeks turning somewhat even darker than Midorima had thought possible. His expression showed his annoyance at being ignored when the challenge was supposed to be against him in the first place. “Don’t I get a say in this?”

“No.”

“Akashi-”

 _“No._ You will play whether you like it or not. That’s an order Daiki.”

“Are you serious?!” the teen whaled, looking disgruntled. “It’s just gonna be a waste of time!”

Kagami’s smirk vanished before he scowled, irritation painted plain as day.

“Like I said before. Don’t underestimate me.” He gave a wild, predatory grin that would send a grown man screaming and running away. “I’m gonna give you the game of a lifetime.”

Maybe it was the utter conviction in his tone, or maybe it was the excited, contagious gleam in his crimson eyes, but just for a minute, Aomine had looked about ready to smile before he caught himself. The dark skinned player glowered at him.

“Yeah, like that’s gonna happen.” He muttered, sulking away to the locker room with his shoulders hunched.

 _Indeed._ Midorima internally agreed, trying to shake off the feeling of Kagami’s words. _Such a thing would be impossible._

 _Then again,_ some part of him whispered. _Kagami Taiga is impossible too._

_We’ll just have to see._


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm going to be adding a horde of OC characters starting from this chapter from now on. They are vital for the match against Aomine and will make many reappearances afterwards. And sorry, but the match isn't happening in this chapter. Depending on the length of my chapters and how much I manage to fit in there, I'm focused more on the leading up to the game then the game itself.
> 
> Because this isn't about Kagami kicking Aomine's ass. This is about the hows and whys and explaining that takes time. Heck, look at the manga! There's so much happening in between matches and how the characters change their mindset and learn. I want to go through that so that when Kagami and his 'mystery team' goes up against Aomine, it won't be meaningless. Not everything about this particular match is about slapping some sense in Aomine. It's never that simple.
> 
> So patience readers. I'm not changing my mind on this.
> 
> Also, thank you for being so patient. Wow, this took a while to write with school and exams getting in the way. I hope you like it!

"What the  _hell_ were you thinking?"

Kagami sighed and ran a tired hand through his dark red hair.

"Midorima, it's way too early in the morning for this." He groaned, unable to properly portray his annoyance since it would take too much energy. He ignored the dangerous aura Midorima was setting off and simply rubbed his neck.

It was the day after he had recklessly challenged Aomine and the news has already spread across the school. Five people had already dared to try to talk to him on the bus just to get more juicy information before he had shot all of them death glares that could make grown men cry. Needless to say, they had stopped asking.

And right after that, the members of the basketball team from all three strings had bombarded him at the school entrance. All of them had vindictive gleams in their eyes as they told him good luck. Half of them didn't look like they believed he could do it and was simply doing it to make fun of him. The other half looked sympathetic for digging his own grave.

Kagami particularly hated those pitying stares. He had had enough of those to last a lifetime when he had been stuck in a chair. An exasperated part of him wanted to know what he did wrong in his past life to have gotten involved with the Generation of Miracles. They were more trouble than they were worth. All of this adding to the fact he had zero sleep last night was making him more exhausted and short-tempered than usual.

Midorima's green eyes narrowed threateningly, appearance frigid.

"Aomine is going to  _destroy_ you. Out of all the members of the Generation of Miracles, he's admittedly the strongest. Hell, he's the damn ace!" he snapped agitatedly.

"Yeah, I know. I met the bastard yesterday, remember?" Kagami retorted. "I'm not underestimating him, trust me. I saw him play in the practice match yesterday and I could tell he wasn't even going all out."

That had been a sight to see. As focused and worried he had been when watching Aomine struggle with his despair, a part of him had wanted to jump from his seat and demand a one on one game like he always did before. The guy was incredible, passing by players like a hurricane on court. He may not be as good as his high school counterpart, but he was definitely on a whole different level for a middle schooler. He hadn't seen him do formless play yet, but didn't doubt Aomine was able to. The agile way he flicked his wrists when dribbling was proof enough to the former couch.

Midorima looked like he wanted to strangle him. Kagami privately acknowledged to himself that he was much more used to the shooter looking at him as if he was ready to combust. Maybe he's finally gone into the deep end with all this time travel nonsense if he was so relaxed at the idea of someone exploding at him for being an idiot.

"Then why did you?" the teen all but yelled out because yelling meant losing what little self-control he probably had.

Kagami shot him a condescending look. "Because the guy was pissing me off. Besides," Kagami gave a lopsided grin that was full of fire. "this is a good opportunity to smack some sense into him. 'The only one who can beat me is me?' Ha! Like I'll let him live in such a delusion!"

Midorima pressed the bridge of his nose and exhaled heavily. "Why did you propose a team challenge?" he asked abruptly. Though he still looked chafed, there was no denying the curiosity of the red head's actions. Kagami snorted and gave a short, dark chuckle.

"Did you not hear him when he talked about his teammates? He may respect the Generation of Miracles, but he sure as hell don't with other players. And as I've said before to him, basketball is a  _team sport._  I don't know how long it's been since that guy started to only depend on himself but it's pretty obvious even to someone who's only watched him once that it's been a pretty damn long time." Kagami smiled at Midorima chillingly. "Where's the fun in playing alone?"

Midorima's brows creased but he didn't comment. Kagami's icy visage broke when he yawned, teeth barring and eyes closed, much like a large cat. Scratching behind his ear, he wiped the film of liquid in his red eyes that had watered up at the sign of tiredness he had shown. Shaking his head to get rid of his lethargy, he continued.

"If I beat him in a one on one match, he'll just think I'm stronger than him. He won't learn anything other than the fact that he isn't the strongest person around. That's why it has to be a team match, a  _proper_  match. Otherwise, he's never going to see how important teamwork is."

"Do you have a team in mind?"

"Nope." Kagami shamelessly admitted, picking his ear. Midorima looked ready to facepalm. "I haven't talked to anyone other than you, remember? And I seriously doubt I'll get any welcoming responses if I do. I'm not unaware that people aren't going to support the idea of a newcomer beating the school's pride. Not to mention I'm a delinquent to society's eyes."

"And an idiot apparently." Midorima grounded out with ire. Kagami shrugged and stood up from his chair, stretching out his limbs.

"This school is famous for having strong players. I think it's safe to think there are students out there who aren't part of the basketball club that can play. As for how good they are," Kagami cracked his stiff neck and smirked. "I'll be the judge of that."

The green haired teen visibly rolled his eyes heavily in an impressive manner before he noticed the red head starting to leave. Standing up as well, he stalked after Kagami until he was right next to him in the hallway. He didn't notice that he had done it automatically, as if the very notion of leaving the red head alone hadn't even entered his mind.

"Where are you going?" he inquired, frowning.

Kagami rubbed his blurry red eyes as he walked, slowing down slightly so that Midorima could catch up to him. "Getting coffee." He answered shortly. He avidly could already imagine the smell of caffeine in the air. "I'll treat you to a red bean soup can when we get to the vending machine."

The shooter looked faintly surprised and satisfied by the offer.

As they walked, Kagami began to mull over the stalled, previous issue. Despite acting confident, he was very nervous at the possibility of losing, which would have no doubt devastating effects. If he loses, Aomine might become even more arrogant in the later future. Even if Kagami could challenge him again and win, all chances of Aomine working with a team would be foregone for, hell, maybe forever.

And that, that would make the timeline more screwed up than the first time around.

In the future, Touou had always gotten close but never won the Winter Cup or Interhigh. They were always third in the running next to all the other Miracles' teams because the whole team, even with their seniors leaving, focused more on individual play. Working together had never been their forte, especially in their ace's case, and that in some ways had hindered them. Sure they were called the best offensive high school team in Japan, but with the other Miracles all gunning for first, competition had been tough and the team would fall short.

That is, until third year came around.

A week after having lost the Winter Cup to Seirin again, Aomine had been shockingly appointed as the captain by a sadistic Wakamatsu. When Kagami had first heard the news at the time, he had thought the blonde loudmouth had finally cracked from the stress of dealing with Sakurai's constant apologizing that would drive any sane person mental and Aomine's disrespectful attitude.

Surprisingly, the blue haired idiot had actually taken the job seriously with Momoi advising him, who had made sure he wouldn't slack off. Kagami remembered feeling astonished and impressed by Aomine's not too shabby leadership skills, authority oozing off of him when going against him at Interhigh. Seirin had won, but it had been a one digit difference, marking Touou's growth with the team under Aomine's wing. Touou had become a larger threat than before because the missing, vital part of playing as a team was slowly but surely coming together like a jigsaw puzzle. When Touou had entered in the Winter Cup, they had dominated with their firmly formed team play until they reached the finals against Seirin.

The day before the game, Aomine had nodded at him and had given a genuine smile that lit up his usually scowling features and cockily said  _Touou_  will win. Not just him, but the whole team. A year ago, not even a semblance of such a declaration would've ever left the ace's mouth.

Kagami grimaced. But if things went wrong in this match, that future may never happen either. Bastard or not, Aomine didn't turn out so bad in the end. He shuddered at the thought of being the reason for ruining the ganguro's future. Pondering hard, he was startled out of his musings when he suddenly felt something bump into his chest and fall with a resounding crash.

Sharply looking to the floor in front of him, he saw that 'something' was actually 'someone.'

The kid had brown hair and wincing green eyes that triggered recognition at the back of his mind. Pondering where he saw this kid before, he blinked when the memory finally came to him.

The kid didn't notice him yet and was rubbing the back of his head gingerly. When he glanced up, the second year nearly gave himself a whiplash. Gaping, the kid finally spoke.

"K-Kagami-san?" the kid spluttered out in shock, forest green looking disbelieving. Kagami nodded, ignoring Midorima who turned to look at the kid harshly with immediate suspicion.

"You're the kid I met on the first day in the bus." Kagami scratched his cheek somewhat sheepishly. "Sorry, I can't remember your name though."

The kid scrambled up and grinned cheerily. He looked disheveled at the fall, his white uniform crinkled.

"Amaya Masato." He promptly reintroduced himself. "It's good to see you Kagami-san."

"Kagami." He cut off the suffix with a smirk. "I'm not really into formalities. And it's good to see you too Amaya. How are you and your classes?"

The kid actually glowed at the genuine interest Kagami was displaying before nodding eagerly. "Pretty good. Nobuo-kun hasn't been too much trouble these days." A flicker of perplexing disappointment colored his face, an unidentifiable emotion present. Before Kagami could identify what it was, Amaya seemed to have noticed for the first time since the exchange started that someone was behind him.

Spotting Midorima who was hanging out a bit behind Kagami, he comically dropped his jaw. Pointing shakily to the glaring Midorima, he paled. Kagami started to get worried when Amaya started to open and close his mouth like a fish out of water. He snapped his mouth shut though once he noticed that both third years were staring and hastily bowed with a flush, much to Kagami's bewilderment.

"S-Sorry, I just-  _wow._ It's just, I didn't expect to see you with Midorima Shintarou." His eyes widened and immediately backtracked. "N-Not that there's anything wrong with that. It's just a really unexpected surprised since Midorima-san usually doesn't leave the classroom this late…" he trailed off, looking like he wanted to melt to the floor as Midorima's frown grew while Kagami just felt bemused. Blushing even harder, the second year ducked his head down. "I'm making a complete fool of myself, aren't I?"

"Yup." Kagami said blithely.

Amaya cringed at the red head's candor and deeply exhaled before he hesitantly spoke. "Again, I'm sorry. It's just, I'm a really  _really_  huge fan of yours Midorima-san."

Midorima looked dumbstruck, jaw slightly agape as if the younger teen had made a love confession instead. Kagami smirked and held back his sniggering to save Amaya some face.

Well this was a first. Most people look at the Miracles and usually admire Kise or Akashi. Aomine on the rare occasion while Murasakibara never cared for such things in the first place. For Midorima to have an admirer was too good to be true. Nudging Midorima, he smirked deviously.

"A fan, huh?" He drawled out, snapping Midorima out of it. "You hear that you tsundere? You got a  _fan,_ an  _admirer._ "

"Shut up." The green haired shooter barked. Whirling to look at a highly embarrassed Amaya, he pointed at him imperiously. "And you, don't joke about such a thing. I do not find it amusing."

Amaya looked taken aback. "Wait. You think I'm pulling your chain? I'm not. I admire you above any of the other Generation of Miracles."

The shooter stared at him dubiously.

_"Why?"_

Amaya blinked, looking genuinely puzzled. "Why wouldn't I? You're a really hard worker and your shooting skills are incredible. I've never seen someone play so diligently. Aomine-san may be the ace, but your three pointers and range makes me envious." He sighed longingly. "I don't play basketball, but when I see you play, I sure wish I do."

Kagami wished he had a camera to memorialize the speechless expression on the shooting guard's face at Amaya's sincere praise. The guy probably had never been complimented so thoroughly before. Most people who look at him just see an oddball and steered clear of him. To have someone say something like that so out of the blue must be unreal to the shooter.

Deciding enough was enough, Kagami patted Midorima's back and gave a small, encouraging smile to the still dazed Miracle.

"You know, it's polite to say thank you when someone throws in a compliment." Kagami prodded.

That seemed to do the trick as Midorima outwardly shook his head and put on a stiff façade. Looking to Amaya, he nodded curtly at him.

"I accept your compliment." He said haltingly, obviously not used to thanking people – if what he said was a thank you at all. Kagami inwardly rolled his eyes at the almost endearing awkwardness the green haired teen was displaying. Takao would've probably dubbed it as cute.

Amaya lifted one shoulder into a one sided shrug. "I was just giving my opinion. You don't have to thank me Midorima-san."

Midorima hmphed and pushed his glasses up. Kagami, amused, was just about to torment him a little further when inspiration suddenly struck him. An almost scary grin barred his whole face, instantly putting the two people on edge. The feral look looked almost demonic as it directed itself to a wary Amaya.

"That friend of yours who plays basketball, is he any good?" his light, conversational tone was false and suspicious to any viewer.

Amaya looked surprised for a moment that Kagami had remembered such a small detail from the last time they talked before he furrowed his brows together and slowly nodded.

"Yeah, he's a decent shooting guard. It's the reason why I'm more familiar with Midorima-san's position than any of the other Miracles." He said cautiously, slightly worried by the glint of something perilous growing in Kagami's crimson eyes. "Why do you want to know?"

Suddenly, without any warning once those words barely got out of the shorter teen's mouth, Kagami grabbed the kid's arm forcefully and started to promptly drag him down the hallway from where Amaya had come from. Amaya spluttered at the treatment and tried to break out of the red head's iron grip futilely.

"Kagami-san!" he cried out in alarm. "What are you-"

"Show me to his classroom." Kagami ordered bluntly. The manic grin was still coating his face. "I want to meet this guy. And no," he interjected before Amaya could open his mouth. "you don't have a say in the matter so let's get on with it. We don't have much time since class is gonna start in ten minutes."

"B-But-Kagami-san-"

"Midorima!" Kagami once again disregarded his protests, eyeing behind him to see Midorima just as befuddled as the second year. Smiling pleasantly, Kagami waved him in a shooing motion that instantly replaced the shooter's confusion with irritation, a tick mark on his forehead. "I might be late so cover for me when the teacher gets there. Say I was in the bathroom or something. Also, don't worry. I'll buy that drink on my way back, I promise."

The green haired shooter didn't look mollified by the bribe and closed his eyes while tilting his head to face the ceiling, as if praying for patience from the gods for the red head's spontaneous, aggravating demands. With slumped shoulders, Midorima merely grunted before spinning around and prowling away. Kagami recognized the 'go ahead' signal the green haired teen was exhibiting and snickered.

With that last, humorous thought, Kagami hauled the flabbergasted teen by the collar since his arms had gone suddenly limp and marched purposefully to Room 2C.

Time to meet his potential teammate.

**-A-**

Reflecting on his life choices, he wondered what in seven hells happened to have him be towed by Kagami Taiga, the enigma of Teiko Middle School, to his best friend who was in for a surprise.

Amaya Masato was a fairly average guy. He was fourteen years old with an ordinary appearance and height and was not involved with any sports. He liked video games like the next guy, was in the school's debate club, and had decent grades. Nothing about him really stood out other than his love for basketball. Except for that, his life was rather dull.

So when the giant red head had quite literally slammed into his life, he hadn't thought too much over it.

First day had been both anticipant yet dreading, the thought of homework and boring teachers nearly making him want to skip all together. Riding the bus had been a onetime thing since he had been late that morning, making him unable to walk to school like he usually did last year. That, and the fact it cost money to use that way of travelling killed all motivation to use the bus in the later future. Besides, walking was healthier.

And because of his lateness, he got to meet Kagami Taiga.

With his scarlet blood hair and eyes along with his fierce countenance, he had an enormous presence when he had stepped into the then dented vehicle. Everyone had been staring with baited breath, including him, before the red head had sat down.

Right behind him.

At the time, he had to hold back a shiver at the knowledge that the intimidating teen could attack him from behind at any moment. An irrational fear he knew, but that hadn't stopped his imagination from running wild.

So for those first few mindless minutes, he had sat rigidly in his seat, stare fixated at the window. But, like always, his interest got to the better of him. Nobuo had told him once that his curious nature was going to get him killed one day and Amaya didn't doubt it. He just couldn't help himself.

He had brought up all the courage he could muster and turned around with a question ready on his tongue. Surprisingly, the guy had been pretty nice. A bit blunt yes, but a good guy overall with a sense of humor. The latter characteristic wasn't expected but not unwelcomed as the two conversed.

Amaya's curiosity only grew when the red head had admitted that he played basketball. He was still baffled over why he didn't join, but didn't get to ask. It had been only later did Amaya realize that it had been quite rude of him to question him. Flashbacking to Nobuo's reason for quitting the club, Amaya figured that Kagami must have a good reason too.

After the two went on their separate ways, it had been impossible for Amaya to not hear the whispered gossip about the third year. Some of them had been ridiculous, like how the new transfer student was part of a gang. Or that he was a rich boy who ran away from home in America and bribed the school staff to let him attend – apparently, people just can't accept the possibility that the red head could be legitimately smart.

Oh, and let's not forget that he apparently was friends with  _Midorima Shintarou._  To many, this was the most impossible out of all the silly talk that revolves around the school. Most had even said that their interactions were antagonistic with how often the red head seemed to irritate the Miracle, causing them to quarrel constantly.

Of course, Amaya hadn't believed it either when he first heard about it. Midorima, basketball genius or not, was antisocial as a human being could get. Complement the fact he had some pretty weird habits and quirks, people viewed the shooting guard as a standoffish loner. Not a good combo when it came to making bearable human companions.

It was only when he saw the two squabbling as they walked to the left courtyard during lunch did Amaya become convinced that the rumor had been true. The exchange had been open and not hostile, their voices light when carried by the wind. Amaya hadn't missed how relaxed the Miracle had been, more than Amaya had ever seen from him.

And the way the red head had just moments ago teased Midorima without any fear or care just proved even further how far their friendship went. Witnessing it up close had erased any doubt in Amaya's mind on whether the rumor was true.

But all those rumors were shadowed when yesterday's incident came to light to the public.

Amaya had nearly choked on the juice he had been drinking at the time when he heard someone excitedly tell his friends that some freakishly tall red head had challenged  _the_ Aomine Daiki.

Ten guesses as to who  _that_ was.

But, just like before, Amaya foolishly had dismissed it and steadfastly told himself that it didn't matter to him whatsoever.

That belief was thrown in the trash when both once again crashed into each other, which has now brought him here, walking towards his friend's classroom and hoping he wouldn't regret this.

When they reached their destination, Kagami did not falter when he barged into Room 2C. He slid the door open with an audible slam, not seeming to notice how silent the room went when he did. The dead silence only lasted a moment before people started to flounder around, trying to appear busy when the red head's gaze happened to pass by them, red eyes searching.

One unlucky student who seemed to lack common sense gawked transparently at Kagami as if he was some kind of novelty to the human species. Attracting Kagami's attention, the red head glared fiercely at the idiot before growling, "What are you looking at?"

The teen let out a small 'eep!' before dashing out of the room as if his life depended on it.

Amaya couldn't blame him. Good guy or not, Kagami was quite an intimidating individual.

"Masato?"

The voice sounded surprised, a lilt of amusement coloring his tone. A part of Amaya wanted to punch him and another larger part of him wanted to hide behind his said friend who never seemed to be scared of anything.

Sato Nobuo raised one thin eyebrow, smiling serenely. He was a handsome individual with windswept black hair and slanted, silver eyes. It's no wonder why girls swooned over him, especially with his 'mature attitude.' Amaya found this impression quite annoying since he knew better than anyone how truly lazy and childish his childhood friend could be. Unfortunately, Nobuo was smart enough to fool everyone with his 'charming personality.' The act made the brunette gag every time he saw some poor girl blush or giggle as she succumbed to Nobuo's witty remarks and smiles.

If Amaya was a more shallow man, he definitely would've been jealous of the attention Nobuo got. Thank god that wasn't the case though since one of them had to keep a straight head on to balance out the other's ego.

Waving in a somewhat jerky manner, Amaya managed a nervous smile that made the dark haired teen barely narrow his eyes.

"Uh, hello Nobuo. Just came to say hi and all. Well, I better go to my class then. So, I'll see you later too Kagami-san-"

"Hah? What are you talking about?" Kagami raised one split eyebrow, hand grasping, much to Amaya's dismay, the back of his shirt which left him immobilized. "Of course you're staying. It'll be kinda awkward if you leave."

 _'You can be awkward?'_  Amaya thought somewhat dryly, though he didn't voice this out loud.

Nobuo cocked his head, smile still present. He looked completely unruffled by Kagami's sudden appearance, as if it was perfectly normal and socially acceptable to charge into a classroom that wasn't yours as if you own it.

"You're Kagami Taiga, aren't you? There's been a lot of talk about you since you came to this school. Welcome to Teiko by the way." he added lightly.

Kagami snorted. With carelessness that bordered on arrogance, the red head screeched the chair from one of the nearest desks and set it so it would face Nobuo before promptly slumping on to it. He didn't look at all bothered by the goggling responses he got from the abrupt action and merely raised an eyebrow. Amaya privately wondered how anyone could have so much self-confidence to just do what he pleased without even thinking about it. He didn't know if it was just brashness or something else altogether.

"You know," Kagami drawled out. "I think you're the first person to say that to me since I've come to this school. Not that I mind, it's just kinda unexpected. What's your name?"

Nobuo gave an amiable smile, expression still warm. "Sato Nobuo."

"Okay Sato. I'm just going to get to the point then since I have to go back to my classroom soon before my homeroom teacher hunts me down." His eyes turned to steel as they burned through Nobuo. "Would you like to join my team in the match against Aomine Daiki?"

Amaya gaped, flabbergasted. A pin could fall and be heard by everyone in the classroom as all stared at the red head as if he had just stripped himself naked and confessed to some unlucky girl after doing so.

Of course everyone knew Aomine Daiki. He was a member of the Generation of Miracles, a complete monster on the court. He was a generally good guy, but didn't really bother socializing with anyone other than the other Miracles and his childhood friend Momoi Satsuki. He was also quite infamous for his abysmal study habits and grades, having absolutely zero interest in anything other than basketball.

These days though, he was temperamental on a good day, a dark aura trailing him like a raincloud. Students didn't know why and steered clear of him if they could, not wanting to face his wrath.

And of course  _everyone_ had heard about the challenge the new transfer student had ensued yesterday.

It was unanimously agreed in the student population that the red head was going to get crushed like a bug underfoot. To have the audacity to even  _think_  of having a chance at winning was insulting. Who did the cocky bastard think he was, strolling around and claiming he could beat a Miracle?

Nobuo's cool frontage melted right off, he silver eyes wide with his jawbone slightly unhinged. Amaya was torn between joining him and bursting out into hysterics since he has never seen him look so undignified before. Then again, Kagami had that effect on everyone it seemed.

To the teen's credit, Nobuo smoothed over his reaction quickly gave a smile that didn't reach his eyes - not even close - with only some leftover incredulousness hinted on his features. Amaya was sure that he alone was the only one who could see the underhand anger simmering behind the put up mask.

"Is this a joke?" Nobuo queried, voice even. Kagami leaned in, face barren of any humor.

"Do I look like I'm joking to you?"

Nobuo leaned back on his chair, a subtle line creasing his forehead now. Amaya always hated it when he did that. When the dark haired teen got angry, he wasn't upfront about it. Instead, he hides it away with an unnerving facade, his usual warmth absent, until the other person apologized or paid back tenfold.

"What makes you think I'll ever agree to something so preposterous?"

Kagami must've noticed the slight stiffness in his voice because a minor frown wrinkled his forehead.

"Why would it be preposterous? The guy may be good, but that doesn't mean it's impossible to beat him." Nobuo's jaw subtly clenched from this, silver turning sharper than before.

"Do you have any idea of what you're saying? You're a foreigner so maybe you don't understand, but going up against a Miracle is like going up against a titan." He said, tone cold.

Kagami didn't look at all bothered by the prospect, surprisingly not looking angry by the low blow Nobuo just shot at him about his nationality. "So? Doesn't that make the challenge more interesting? To topple a titan off his seat is sure to be a damn sight for sore eyes." The red head gave a lopsided shrug. "Besides, I'm  _asking_  you, aren't I? Whether you really are capable enough is something I will decide for myself. I'm not idiotic enough to just let anyone join in."

Nobuo looked ready to just foregone the notion of keeping calm from Kagami's insult if Amaya hadn't decided to step up at that moment.

"He'll consider it!" he blurted out, earning a livid, disbelieving glare from the raven haired teen while Kagami had the audacity to grin, not expressing any surprise. He didn't need to look around to know that everyone was focused on him now.

But he couldn't stop now. His heart was thumping hard in his chest as he recognized the opportunity Kagami was unknowingly presenting for both Nobuo and a certain someone that deserved just as much of a chance to crush a Miracle. Swallowing hard, he continued. "But, there is one condition I would like to add." He said hesitantly, earning an interested look from the red head. Seeing it, he gathered up his courage and forged on.

"There's someone else who would make a good addition to your team. He's an incredibly good center who can par with an Uncrowned King." He ignored Nobuo as he cursed from recognition.

"Amaya you idiot, what the hell do you think you're-"

"Helping you! Both of you!" forest green eyes burned into silver. "We tried everything Nobuo. This-This can actually work. I know it's crazy, but please. Try." The pleading tenor in his voice made Nobuo close his mouth shut and stare him down. His usual, carefree attitude has all but disappeared, leaving the intelligent teen Amaya knew him to be. After what felt like an eternity, he finally sighed. Running a hand through his black locks, he shook his head.

"You're an idiot." The unspoken consent made Amaya beam. With renewed purpose, he spoke again confidently. "His name is Miyazaki Shino. He's a third year and quit basketball last year. If you manage to convince him to play on your team, then Nobuo will join too."

A spike of anxiety throbbed his veins when the red head didn't react to this. His face was completely blank, not a hint of emotion showing. The sudden, solemn mood that surrounded him was unnerving and made sweat gather from his clenched palms. He had to say yes. He  _had_ to-

"That's it? That's the condition?" a savage, sure smirk rippled the teen's face. Amaya couldn't help but shiver at the devastating look. Kagami screeched out of his chair and cracked his neck, the smirk never leaving. "Then it's done. What's his room number?"

Amaya was startled to realize that the question was directed at him and fumbled to reply, still in a state of awe. "Um, h-he's in Room 3E."

"Got it. I'll talk to him at lunch." Kagami glanced at his watch, completely ignorant to the stares he was getting. "Oh, another thing. Is it possible if either of you could direct me to any potential players who aren't in the club right now? I can't ask Midorima since that's technically asking for help."

Before Amaya could say anything, Nobuo cut in.

"You think it's easy to get someone who quit to play?" his voice was neutral. However, there was something almost testing about it, eyes no longer angry but assessing. "He didn't quit due to an injury or something physical. He quit out of his own free will. Do you really think that you can convince him to play?"

Kagami scoffed and crossed his arms. "Of course it won't be easy, but yeah. I'll definitely make it happen." His grin looked almost comforting, assurance radiating from him in waves. Amaya may have imagined it, but there was something almost tender in his fiery eyes that could burn down cities, emblazing like soft ember. Nobuo must've seen it too because something shifted in his countenance, the accusing stare turning thoughtful. Pausing for only a moment, Nobuo spoke.

"There's not many people who's interested in basketball and are not in the club. And if they did quit, it's usually because the regime is absolutely ridiculous in Teikou. What training the team goes through could literally kill a man if pushed enough. The only person I can really think of at the top of my head is Wang Bao Zhi." Kagami blinked, looking surprised. Clearly, he didn't think the teen would've really answered his question. "He's an exchange student last year from China. He's a decent small forward and has the energy to prove it. Though, I have to warn you, he is a pretty…  _loud_  individual."

Kagami cringed, looking pained. "Yeah. I get the picture."

Nobuo looked close to smiling at Kagami's expense and shook his head. "And as Amaya has  _kindly_  offered," Amaya winced. He just  _knew_ the black haired teen was going to ask for retribution. "I will offer my services if you succeed recruiting Miyazaki into this crazy scheme of yours."

"It's a  _game_ , not a plot for god's sake." Kagami growled. "And I will get him to join, so prepare yourself in the meantime. See ya later." and with that note, the intruder left the classroom, leaving behind a silent classroom before the homeroom teacher finally popped in a few minutes later, ready to begin class. Amaya was just about to leave, the teacher's appearance shaking him out of whatever trance had befallen the classroom, when Nobuo spoke.

"Where do you think you're going so soon?"

Amaya flinched and slowly turned midstride to see Nobuo raise his eyebrow at his retreating form. Sheepish and nervous, he cleared his throat.

"... Are you mad at me?"

Nobuo gave him a wry look. "What do you think?"

Amaya ducked his head. "But it might work. I really think it can." Amaya didn't know why he was so convinced of this. Maybe it was the gut feeling that the towering red head would keep his word. He didn't look like the type to do anything half assed. Instead of arguing more like Amaya half expected, Nobuo looked contemplative by his words.

"Who knows. When it comes to Miyazaki, anything can happen. The guy has mood swings like no one else." despite the bite in his voice, there was a tinge of exasperated respect mixed in it.

Amaya thought back to Kagami's manhandling ways and how he had somehow easily just roped Amaya and Nobuo into this outrageous mayhem. Stifling a smile, he shook his head.

"Anything huh?" he simply replied, not thinking at all of their wayward semi-friend. Instead, he thought of the possible outcomes that the tiger like man could create. He just hoped it would turn out fine in the end.

**-A-**

The recruitment process was a lot easier than Kagami had first suspected. The reason behind this is simply because Teikou has some crazy players to spare. Briefly, he contemplated the notion that basketball players from Teikou, including the Generation of Miracles of course, were bred to be insane. The convoluted theory could almost be believable, considering Akashi was driven to madness due to the pressure of being captain of said Teikou basketball team.

However, in order to explain why he exactly suspects this, he has to flashback to what happened with his previous recruitment efforts.

After the confrontation with Sato Nobuo, he had gone back to his classroom – and yes, he did buy the red bean soup can just like he promised which had made Midorima absurdly pleased – and had been immediately attacked by Honda, who berated him in front of the entire class as if he was a toddling child. He had tuned her out halfway through the lecture and just hoped she would keep going so class time would be cut short. He  _hates_  Japanese History and always will, which was the first class of the day. Who the hell  _cared_  about the time this old geezer did that and that during this and this war? Information like that didn't help a shit in real life and Kagami knew that first hand at every damn job interview he had ever been in. Fifteen minutes it went on and on. Kagami was impressed by the set of lungs from the miniature teacher whose irritated expression looked too severe on her petite face.

Once the beat down had been over, he had to resist the urge to cuff Midorima by the neck when the bastard gave a superior look in a serves-you-right kind of way as he made his way to his desk. The grimace of pain that wiped the smug look off his face when Kagami surreptitiously kicked him under the table was worth it.

Again, he had to marvel at how different his relationship with the shooting guard was. Sometimes, they had some semblance of serious conversations. Other times, they acted like grade school kids ready to scuffle with the other both verbally and physically. It was bizarre.

Other than that, half of his attention had been on the clock during the whole duration of class, waiting impatiently for lunch to come. When the time came, he had practically leaped out of his chair, minutely telling Midorima that he couldn't eat with him. The green haired teen had waved him off with a peeved look, his eyes glinting behind his thick glasses knowingly. Again, an unfurling feeling of fondness had overtaken him that moment before he had quickly left the classroom.

Finding Wang Bao Zhi hadn't been hard since not many Chinese people attended Teikou. He found the teen after asking around for a few minutes and discovered he was a second year like Nobuo.

The moment he had met the teen, he just knew he was in trouble. Cropped coal hair and black, slanted eyes had greeted him with unbound enthusiasm, cheerful and annoying loud to a fault as he badgered Kagami about the match before he could even put in a word. Apparently, the teen recognized him for his rather public challenge and just couldn't stop talking about how 'awesome' the game was going to be. When Kagami barely managed to ask him if  _he_ wanted to play, it made Wang thankfully momentarily pause into stunned silence before whooping seconds later and practically begging him to sign him up. Kagami wouldn't be surprised if his shoulder – juddering from the fervent handshaking of the babbling Chinese – was dislocated by now.

And just when he thought he had more or less done what he came for, one of Wang's classmates had suddenly jumped to his feet, blushing furiously as he stuttered out how he wanted to play as well.

At first glance, the kid – Kagami couldn't help label him as such from how damn stringy and short he was – didn't look impressive. His brown eyes and nondescript sandy hair didn't make him stand out at all. However, Kagami knew better than anyone not to underestimate someone. Besides, he had rather liked the steeled look of determination that mirrored a certain phantom player he knew. Plus, lady luck seemed to be on his side since the mousy brat Yamamoto Hiroshi was apparently a point guard.

As for his skills… Kagami would have to see for himself.

So, where does the theory that the basketball players in Teikou are crazy come from? Well, considering this game could ruin anyone's reputation and mark them forever as 'the ones who lost against the ace of the Generation of Miracles, as expected'… Let's just say any sane person would've dashed away the first chance they got the moment they heard the infamous team were involved.

The very fact that both people he recruited had voluntarily hopped on the bandwagon so eagerly just  _had_  to say something about this school's mentality. Hell, Yamamoto had looked ready to pee himself yet had still wanted to join without Kagami's prompting. Seriously, just,  _what the hell_.

A small part of him felt aggravated and to some degree relieved by how things were turning out. Seeing how he has a lot of experience dealing with varying personalities and quirky habits, it made him an expert on how to deal with such people. While this is admittedly a good thing, that does not change the fact he was probably going to have quite an interesting team who all had the maturity of teenagers.

Kagami swore to himself to make Aomine's life a living hell once this is all over.

And that is  _after_  he stops mentally banging his head against a metaphorical wall. Repeatedly.

So now here he was, standing in front of Room 3E with anticipation rolling in his stomach. Already he was predicting this to be unquestionably his hardest recruitment attempt yet. If he fails, he would lose a possible center and a shooting guard. Not to mention he would be letting Amaya down in the process. So without further or due, he slid the door open.

There were a couple of people milling around in the classroom, talking idly with one another on subjects Kagami didn't really care for. Stepping in, he didn't hesitate to clamp a hand over one of the student's shoulder, causing the guy to jump like he was electrocuted, his friend just as startled.

Kagami grunted and narrowed his eyes. He internally scoffed once the guy recognized him for his rather distinguishable features and paled. By now, everyone knew who he was. How annoying. "Is Miyazaki Shino here? I need to talk to him."

"N-No." the guy stuttered, fidgeting under Kagami's bearing glare. "He'll be back in a f-few minutes though."

Kagami curtly nodded and let go. Both teens were practically shoving each other out the door before running out the moment he did. At the back of his mind, Kagami sighed at this. He wasn't  _that_ scary for god's sake.

Figuring it was going to take a while, he leaned on one of the desks and crossed his arms, pondering. Seeing how he already has half a team by now, he knew he has to start planning on how to train them. Already he could tell that this team would be quite diverse in personality, so he would have to think up ways on how to motivate them, which was going to be a headache and a half. The other half was deciding whether or not working with this particular team would be worth it in the end. He was short on time on who to choose and couldn't be picky or else it might end up with him losing to Aomine and effectively ruining the timeline.

He thought humorlessly to himself how insane his life was. One game with the ganguro could literally mean the end of the world for him, the Miracles, and the whole basketball community as a whole.

Sometimes, he really hates his life.

"If you scowl like that any longer, the damage might be permanent." Kagami snapped his head to the doorway where he met the gaze of an irritated teen with shadowed grey eyes and dark green sheened almost black hair that was sloppily tied back. "Not to mention the fact you're on my damn desk. Get off."

Kagami raised his split eyebrow at the notably taller – though nowhere near as tall Murasakibara – teen's rudeness and lurched off the table. Grunting, the teen flopped onto the chair in a graceless manner that eerily mirrored Aomine, hands at the back of his head while he shot him a glare.

"Something you want?" he grunted. Kagami's eyebrow ticked at his frankness, a niggling suspicion starting to take root. For one thing, not many people were taller than Kagami who was above average already. Add to the fact his instincts were practically screaming at him that this guy was strong, he took a shot in the dark.

"You Miyazaki Shino?" he asked directly. The teen snorted and scratched the back of his head, messing up the ponytail. He didn't seem to care.

"Yeah, what do you want?"

Kagami resisted the urge to run his hand down his face in a stressing manner.  _Of course_  his luck led him to an already troublesome looking teen who looked as much of a delinquent as himself. The memory of Amaya's pleading face and Aomine's haunted look were the only things grounding him right now to stay. He was not letting them down, damn it. Not when he could help it.

So he squared his shoulders and looked at the slouching teen in the eye, deciding to just say what he wanted and get this over with before he thinks of chickening out. "My name is Kagami Taiga. If you don't already know, I challenged Aomine Daiki to a team match yesterday. I want you to join my team against him."

He didn't know whether to take satisfaction in seeing the teen look disbelieving at him, as if he had spouted out his desire to be a tutu wearing ballerina. He had a feeling the guy's shock was rare for him.

And then, Miyazaki surprised him. The kid flung his head back and laughed manically long and hard. Hell, he could even see the army green haired teen's eyes spring with tears. Narrowing his eyes, he watched as the laughs subsided into snickers before it finalized into a deprecating smirk that made Kagami internally bristle. There was something about this guy that was starting to piss him off, though he didn't know what yet.

"Sato put you up to this, didn't he?" he cackled when he saw Kagami look startled. "Don't look so surprised. Him and that brat Amaya's been trying to get me to play since last year. They're relentless those two. And my answer, just like last time, is  _no._  So get lost."

"Hell no." Kagami retorted. "And I'm not here on just their behalf. I heard you were good and I want you on my team."

"Because nobody else will, right?" Miyazaki shot back keenly. He twisted his annoying smile into a snarl. "I'm not gonna help you chase after a pipe dream. Beating that bastard is impossible so don't even try."

"I won't  _know_  that until I try." He gritted out. He managed to roughly push his temper aside but it was starting to become a losing battle. Taking a deep, calming breathe, he tried again. "Can you at least tell me why? Other than your pessimistic remarks that is?"

It was barely noticeable, but the teen's defensive posture slumped a bit, shoulders weighing heavily. Grey eyes flashed with something more than just annoyance and Kagami recognized the look instantly. It was the dim light of someone recalling a painful memory and struggling not to think about it. He sees that look every time he looks in the mirror.

The teen scoffed and tilted his head upward, covering his eyes with his arm and looking ready to take a nap. "Going up against one of  _them_  is just setting yourself up for humiliation. Get another sucker who actually wants to play, 'cause I ain't doing it. So beat it and leave me in peace."

Kagami frowned heavily. Despite himself, he could somewhat understand where the guy was coming from. When Seirin had gone up against Rakuzan during his first year, the whole team had been ready to give up. It was the first time Kagami had ever felt so helpless against the Miracles, against  _anyone_. When Seirin had lost to Touou, Kagami had not once thought that it would be impossible to beat Aomine. In fact, the loss had just bolstered his blazing need to get better so he could support his team and be the best damn ace he could be. If that meant momentarily not working with Kuroko so that they could improve their own individual skills, then so be it.

But Akashi.  _Akashi_ truly was a monster. The situation had looked so hopeless that Kagami, the juggernaut who faced every challenge head on, was ready to throw in the towel. That is, until Kuroko came into the picture and gave his most passionate speech yet to date that reinforced Seirin's spirit until Rakuzan became overwhelmed by it.

Even though they won though, he never forgot that feeling. He had felt true despair that day and  _never_ , not in a million years, did he ever want to taste such a desolate feeling ever again.

Miyazaki Shino lost to the Generation of Miracles and that was a fact. There was no way the teen would act so bitter otherwise. And it's because he knew this did his resolve just triple to get this teen on his team. This wasn't an obligation now. This was a promise.

Again, he wondered why he was sent to the past and not Kuroko. The phantom player was much better at bringing people out of the pits of despair than him.

But he wasn't here, so he began thinking furiously now on how to convince the hostile kid to play for him. Suddenly, a strike of inspiration came to him. Unknowingly to the other teen, Kagami began to sinisterly grin. Turning around, he waved his hand casually behind him, slowly making his way to the door.

"Ah well. If that's how you really feel, then I guess I don't have a choice." He tried as much as possible to make sure he sounded like Aomine at his most snobbish. Frankly, it wasn't that hard since he had been a direct victim to the bastard's I'm-the-best haughtiness for years. At the corner of his eye, he saw the teen stiffen at his drawling, almost arrogant tone. He chose his next words carefully, taking the final jab. "After all, I don't want a  _coward_  to be on my team. Besides, your play must suck if you're so willing to quit basketball just like that. How  _disappointing._  I guess Amaya didn't know what he was talking about when he said you and that kid Sato was good. If you're considered better in Amaya's eyes, I shudder to think about Sato's skills."

He barely uttered the last insult before he found himself whipped around, gripped by the front of his shirt roughly, Miyazaki's eyes nearly pitch black with rage as he snarled like a wild animal at him. His height practically loomed over him like a shadow, killer intent evident. Kagami nearly smiled at the protective gleam that was shining in the teen's eyes, no doubt angry about the low blow Kagami threw about Sato. Instead, the red head smirked ferociously in triumph at getting the teen to finally react. His reaction only seemed to make Miyazaki angrier, if the tightening of his grip said otherwise.

"Take that back you bastard." Miyazaki spat out, a complete flip to his previously uncaring persona from before. "Before I burn off those shitty eyebrows of yours along with your hair."

"Make me. What part of what I said was untrue? You being a coward?" Kagami outright sneered. "Or you being no good?"

"Shut up!" Miyazaki roared. His other hand clenched tightly as if getting ready to punch him. "You have no idea what you're talking about. You don't know anything! What the hell gives you the right to barge in here and start insulting me? Why don't you just  _go away_?"

Kagami barked out a short laugh. "And leave someone as pathetic as you alone to wallow in your misery? Sorry, that just isn't possible for a guy like me. When I see an idiot like you, I just have to say something. Otherwise, I would beat the crap out of you for your stupidity instead." His eyes then sharpened like knives as they scorched through Miyazaki's. "I can't stand people like you who pity themselves without even thinking about other people. The kid Amaya and Sato are worried sick over you and all you've got to say for yourself is  _you don't understand_? Don't give me that bullshit!"

Miyazaki flushed, furious. Kagami wanted to jeer at the look, until the realization of why he was pissed off finally hits him.

Though the kid's reasons for his actions were the opposite, he was acting exactly like Aomine who believed that no one could beat him. Everything about that same attitude rubbed Kagami the wrong way and was making him revert to his short tempered teenage self. He felt like he was rearing heads with the ganguro right now for god's sake.

Closing his eyes, he breathed out a shallow, shaky breathe, willing himself to lower his heart rate like Kuroko had taught him long ago when he had first taken up his coaching job and had lost his temper constantly from the doubting looks he got from his own players before he proved himself quite capable at handling all of them.

Slowly getting his bearings, he made sure to keep up the cross façade, inwardly bracing himself to lay his cards down on the table.

"How about a game."

Miyazaki's anger faltered at his sudden offer, eyes reflecting of startlement which quickly turned into apprehensive irritation. "What the hell are you on about now?" he sounded almost baffled, obviously thrown off.

"Just like I said. A game." the red head plummeted on. “You and me, one on one match. If I win, you join my team whether you like it or not and you have to listen and do whatever task I give you when you’re on my team.”

Miyazaki narrowed his eyes, gaze scathing. “And if you lose?”

Kagami shrugged. “Then I won’t ever bother you again. In addition,” his face hardened with resolve. “I’ll back down from my challenge against Aomine.”

The teen’s eyes widened a fraction. Clearly, he knew as well as him how utterly humiliating such a scenario would be. And considering how Kagami had called the dark haired teen a coward just minutes ago, it would put a stake on his own honor and also make himself out to be a hypocrite, despite whatever circumstances drove him to quit. The fact everyone in the entire school would also think this is a minor detail. Miyazaki looked speculative now, distrust plastered plainly for the world to see.

“Just like that?”

Kagami nodded. “Just like that.”

For the first time since the conversation has started, Kagami felt like he was seeing the real Miyazaki at that moment when he repeated those words. His eyes bore intelligence the red head wouldn’t have expected and his sharp features highlighted the teen’s drilling grey eyes. He looked primal and dangerous and at the back of his mind, Kagami wondered if this is what he himself looked like when he assessed people. If Sato could be described as the perfect picture of passive aggressiveness, Miyazaki was a raging storm ready to snap at any moment if pushed hard enough.

In the end, Miyazaki huffed and finally let go of his shirt, taking a step back while burrowing his hands languidly in his pockets. His whole form hunched and his sudden temper seemed to deplete completely as he absently scratched the back of his head. The only remnant of his prior wrath were his eyes which remained unchanged, still ever watchful and calculative. Due to this, Kagami did not lower his own guard as he waited for an answer. The teen’s eyes reminded him way too much of Imayoshi at his worst and that alone made him weary.

After what felt like an eternity later, Miyazaki finally rolled his eyes skyward, shattering the intimidating guise he had been projecting.

“Name the time.” He said simply.

“Right after school. There’s a court near my house we could use.” Kagami immediately answered, not fazed by the abrupt inquiry. Miyazaki nodded, unquestioning. Kagami appreciated the fact the teen had some sense at the very least, which would make up for his rather short temper that appeared to be even worse than his own.

Suggesting to play here in Teikou would be plain suicide and would bring unwanted attention on both of them if people found out about their game. Neither wanted that, something Kagami was relieved by.

Seeing how he had somewhat succeeded in what he came to do here, Kagami headed for the door but was stopped when Miyazaki surprisingly called him out.

“Wait a minute.” Kagami paused and slid his eyes sideways, not bothering to turn. He felt his curiosity pique when he saw some conflict war all over Miyazaki’s face before the teen turned away, effectively hiding his emotions. “… Are they well?”

Kagami couldn’t help but feel a flicker of surprise before crimson eyes softened into understanding. It was good to know the teen wasn’t completely hopeless. He gave a shark like grin.

“Find that out yourself brat.” And with that, he left the room and closed the door behind him.

Sighing heavily in reprieve now that he has escaped the emotional charge of the classroom and Miyazaki, he shook his head and started to walk to his classroom where Midorima would no doubt be waiting for him. Smiling at the thought, he was completely unaware of the pink haired manager who was hiding against the wall, mind whirling over the conversation she had just overheard.

**-A-**

“Midorin! Mido- Ah! Don’t ignore me Midorin, come back here!”

Midorima grunted when he felt Momoi grab on to his arm and pull, easily making him unable to escape. At the back of his mind, the green haired shooter wondered how on Earth such a petite girl was able to easily overpower him like this. Then again, she _was_ the basketball idiot’s best friend. She must be used to getting her way through force.

Knowing ignoring her would only make the situation more troublesome than it already was, he reluctantly looked to her with a cold disposition ready. He diligently ignored how she rolled her eyes at his rigid behavior.

“Really Midorin. It’s very rude to ignore people when they’re trying to talk to you!”

“Then speak quickly. School is over and I would like to go home.”

“Nope!”

Momoi’s answer made the shooter briefly stop in his tracks, dread starting to pool in his chest.

“What do you mean, ‘no?’” he said fairly calmly, the feeling only growing stronger by the minute when he saw the pink haired girl’s eyes glint ominously under the sunlight as they stood outside the school gates. The cheerful grin only convinced him even further that he wasn’t going to like what she had to say next. Before she could though, something else momentarily caught her attention, causing her to perk up immediately.

“Ah! Ki-chan!”

Midorima resisted the urge to smash his head against the nearest building.

Great. Just what he needed.

To the blonde’s credit, he looked nervous by Momoi’s callout as he slowly made his way towards them, his cautious smile displaying quite obviously that he found Momoi’s happiness just as foreboding.

“Hi Momoi-cchi. Is there something you need?” Kise’s golden eyes flitted across the crowds of chattering students that were bursting out of the gate, some momentarily pausing at the sight of the two Miracles before moving on. Momoi grinned, looking quite pleased to be asked this before she clapped her hands, arm now wrapped tightly around Midorima’s so he couldn’t leave.

“So glad you asked Ki-chan! You see,” her eyes turned dark and shrewd, looking every bit as the terrifying information gatherer Midorima knew her to be. “we’re going on a spy mission.”

Kise looked bemused, not quite sure how to respond to how she phrased her words. “Er, excuse me?”

Momoi hmphed, pouting. Midorima was _this close_ to facepalming. Are all of his teammates mentally childlike? Excluding Akashi of course; Kuroko was a speculative case.

“Isn’t it obvious? We’re going to follow Kagami-kun!” she said in a matter-of-fact tone, as if the notion should be apparent to the two basketball geniuses. Midorima sighed and deftly clicked his glasses into place as Kise looked more confused by the second.

“Eh, why?”

Momoi’s smile was as bright as the sun. “To investigate of course! I would’ve brought Dai-chan, but he refused to go.” Though she sounded annoyed, Midorima didn’t miss how her voice softened a bit from disappointment. “He said he didn’t want any more advantages and that the game would be even more boring.” She shook her head and gave a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

“But isn’t this infiltration idea of yours against the rules Kagami has set?” Midorima easily dismissed her sad countenance, not giving her a chance to be depressed.

“Mah, what nobody knows won’t hurt them.”

Momoi abruptly grinned mischievously, her old cheer instantly back. Not for the first time, Midorima seriously entertained the possibility that the peach named girl was bipolar.

“Anyways, I overheard Kagami-kun’s conversation with one of his possible recruits. They’re going to settle it on a game not far from here. Some court near Kagami-kun’s apartment apparently.” Giggling, she started to tug Midorima’s arm out of the entrance, somehow managing to grope Kise’s arm in the process as well, and tugged them mercilessly. She deftly ignored Kise’s startled yelp and Midorima’s tripping from the sudden action and charged forward impatiently. “Now we have to hurry before we lose them. Thank goodness for Kagami-kun’s red hair. This will make things a lot easier.”

Normally, Midorima would’ve dug his heels into the ground from the manhandling ways – or woman in this case – Momoi was subjugating towards him. However, though he didn’t want to admit it, he was intrigued despite himself of Kagami’s actions and decided to just roll with it for now. He remembered how the red head had come back pleased with himself and not forwarding why. It had been irritating to be left in the dark and an amused Kagami seemed to have known it too.

He wanted to know if Kagami truly held a candle against the ace of the Generation of Miracles. And recalling Kise’s earlier assessment on the red head’s skills only made him itch for the chance to see for himself.

So he held his instinct back to get away from the pink haired demon and stiffly followed an excited, babbling Momoi who effortlessly tailed behind Kagami and a tall, dark haired sharp looking teen Midorima assumed to be Kagami’s opponent and possible teammate.

Fifteen minutes later, all five teens found themselves in a rusty old basketball court. Midorima felt Kise become rigid next to him.

“This is where I met Kagami-cchi!” he hissed. Midorima narrowed his eyes at the new piece of info.

“Then I guess you’re getting the chance to see Kagami play after all.” He commented gruffly.

All signs of reluctance from earlier disappeared at what the shooter point out, making the blonde grin excitedly. His enthusiasm was short lived as both felt Momoi grab on to the back of their shirts and shove them down behind the bushes.

“Get down!”

Midorima was just about to snap at her not to order him around when Kagami’s voice cut through the court.

“So here are the ground rules.” His voice was all business and held a note of seriousness Midorima had only ever heard him use when he had told him exactly what he thought of the school and Aomine Daiki. “Whoever reaches ten points first, wins. We play fair. No tricks, no cheating. As for the stakes… Well, I’m sure you have a good understanding of what that is.”

Midorima’s glasses shined dangerously at the last part. Looking to a smiling Momoi, he stared accusingly at her.

“I suppose you are aware of what the deal is?” It wasn’t even a question. The pink haired girl was meticulous when it came to assembling information. If she knew about this meeting, it was safe to assume she also knew what Kagami was talking about. The green haired teen could feel Kise also looking to the manager with curiosity.

Momoi hummed, pink eyes speculative and fox like, conscientiously assessing him as if he was a lab rat. She must’ve come up with some elaborate theory in her twisted mind because all she did was smile. Anyone who didn’t know Momoi personally would’ve never interpreted the sweet look to a smug smirk that could rival her idiot best friend.

“You’re going to have to ask Kagami-kun that once this is over.” She said teasingly. Midorima glared at her, just about to retort a biting remark when Kagami’s opponent shifted out of the corner of his eye. The teen’s level gaze held no emotion in them as they stared Kagami down.

“Yeah yeah. Let’s just get this done and over with.” The teen drawled, movements lazy as he got into position as Kagami started the game.

Tension reigned the court as both players eyed each other, Kagami bouncing the ball expertly while his body was sprung like a wire.

Suddenly, with such speed that left Midorima wide eyed and Kise and Momoi in a dumbstruck state, the red head barraged past the equally shocked teen who stood stunned for a moment before visibly getting a hold of himself to chase after the red head.

He didn’t have chance.

Kagami slammed the ball hard into the basket, the hoop wobbling threateningly. Slowly, the red head turned to look at the teen with something close to a snarl but more like a smirk.

“Ah, I guess I shouldn’t dunk. I might break something if I’m not careful enough.” His crimson eyes flashed. “And don’t underestimate me Miyazaki. For a smart guy like you, it’s unbecoming.”

The teen Miyazaki clenched his teeth, looking ready to kill Kagami before visibly deflating just as quickly. Though he looked much the same as in the beginning of the match, his eyes now held a semblance of determination that wasn’t there before.

“Don’t lecture me _transfer_.” He spat out the title with contempt. Kagami looked strangely elated by this, his smirk growing even further.

“Make me.”

With those words, the game took off from there. Midorima watched as Kagami defended the basket, his movements smooth and experienced. Though it was obvious the red head wasn’t underestimating Miyazaki, it was clear that he wasn’t playing at his best and that thought made the hair at the back of his neck stand up. Miyazaki played as a pretty decent offender and defender, so it wasn’t like his opponent was some pushover either.

Inwardly, he scoffed at Kagami’s previous attempt to convince him he wasn’t as good as Kise said he was. ‘Overestimating’ his ass.

Midorima watched behind his thick rimmed glasses as the points piled up steadily in Kagami’s favor, not one point getting past the red head. He was winning surely, but there was something admittedly strange about the way the red head was playing. The red head kept on pausing some points, his red eyes unreadable and always intensely watching Miyazaki’s actions.

“Neh, Midorima-cchi.”

Midorima’s eye twitched at the annoying address and whipped his head around to glare at the blonde. Considering the fact that all three teenagers are hiding behind a bush, the glare looked much more blistering when up close and personal.

“What you idiot?” he hissed, irritated by the teen’s interruption to his musings. Kise smiled apologetically at him, ignoring Momoi’s pink eyes that are staring at him questioningly.

“Well, I just wanted to say, is it just me, or is Kagami-cchi playing a lot slower than before?”

Midorima’s green eyes squinted at him at his nonsensical comment. “What are you-” and suddenly, the blonde’s words registered to him like a light bulb. Immediately, he ripped away his gaze away from his teammate and watched now carefully at Kagami’s moves.

Now that the idiot has mentioned it, the red head _was_ playing at a pretty slow pace. It was as if he was purposely extending the game, despite the obvious fact he could probably end this one-sided match pretty quickly if he wanted to. Not only that, there was a certain gleam in his crimson eyes that Midorima had found odd since the beginning of this whole contest-

Green eyes enlarged as the realization hit him. “He’s testing him…” he murmured, having the urge to slap himself silly for not seeing it sooner. Kise and Momoi looked at him inquisitively at his trailing response.

“Testing him? What do you mean?” Momoi asked, puzzled. Shaking his head, Midorima huffed out a small, disbelieving chuckle, surprising both teens at his response. He was in too much awe to realize what he had just done and simply continued to stare at the red head with well earned, rare respect.

“Kagami is by far the better player, anyone can see that.” He found himself answering. “But he’s making the game even longer in order to see the extent of Miyazaki’s skills. He’s trying to see if Miyazaki has what it takes to be on his team against the idiot Aomine. At the same time, he’s trying to earn Miyazaki’s respect.”

“Respect?” Kise repeated in surprise. Midorima nodded.

“Indeed. It’s obvious from the very beginning how Miyazaki doesn’t seem to like nor respect Kagami in any matter. I can only guess that the deal entails that if Kagami wins, Miyazaki must join Kagami’s team. Correct?” he directed this to Momoi who nodded in confirmation. He continued. “Joining the team, especially by force whether it’s a deal or not, will definitely dampen Kagami’s influence in Miyazaki’s eyes. He could pass off Kagami’s win as a fluke if he doesn’t take the match seriously.”

“However, if Kagami immediately destroys Miyazaki instead, then Kagami could be perceived as someone arrogant and hotheaded. After all, Miyazaki has insulted him on many occasions just now and if Kagami falls for the bait, it means he doesn’t have a good head on his shoulders when it comes to playing basketball or dealing with people who will undoubtedly question his authority in the later future. In other words, Kagami would prove himself to be an incapable leader.”

Kise’s expression turned thoughtful. “But since Kagami-cchi isn’t underestimating him and is thinking ahead of this match…”

“Kagami has proven himself to be someone worth following and is someone who thinks before he acts.” Midorima finished. All three fell silent at this. Again, Midorima felt like he was learning something new about the red head who had so many conflicting traits that it drove him insane. He could spend a hundred years trying to figure out the mystery of Kagami Taiga.

After what felt like hours later, Kagami knocked the ball out of Miyazaki’s hands and darted toward the opposite basket, scoring by the side of the basket, ending the game by 10-0. Both players sagged, all energy draining out of them after the extremely long, arduous match, Kagami resting his hands on his knees while Miyazaki slumped next to the iron net that chambered around the court. There was a look of incredible disbelief on Miyazaki’s face, as if shocked that he truly has lost.

Kagami glanced toward the player, still breathing hard, and grinned tauntingly towards the teen.

“Well, it looks like it’s my win.” Miyazaki’s eyebrow twitched at this smug filled comment, his incredulity instantly disappearing like a whiff of smoke. Standing up straight, the tall teen scoffed haughtily at the red head.

“Beginner’s luck.” the teen said stubbornly, causing Kagami to chortle. Miyazaki’s eyes flickered, some emotion playing heavily in his grey eyes at the winner’s reaction.

“Hey.” Kagami blinked at Miyazaki at his suddenly serious tone. “Why do you want me to be on your team so bad? It’s not like my problems are any of your business.”

Midorima watched as Kagami’s expression lost all joy at winning, turning sharp and all edges as his blood red eyes focused all its might toward Miyazaki. Miyazaki’s looked startled by the instantaneous transformation, looking ready to take a step back at Kagami’s sudden concentration.

“It is my business.” Kagami’s tone was harsh and unwavering, as if what Miyazaki has just asked was plain stupid. “Because how your acting is hurting the people around you and it pisses me off. I want you on my team so I can pummel some sense into you.” His features turned less severe as he finally looked away, shrugging. “Besides, you’re a pretty decent player. And I promised Amaya that I would. And I never brake my promises. Never.”

Miyazaki looked winded by the direct answer before a startled laugh escaped him. Shaking his head, the dark haired teen smirked, face no longer angry but simply neutral, hiding away any open emotion he had just displayed moments ago. Turning around, the teen started to walk away.

“Tell me when the next practice is, coach.” Midorima observed with great interest at how Kagami seemed to freeze at the title, face expressing some unknown horror Midorima for the life of him couldn’t see or figure out. “Beating you in front of a crowd will be much more satisfying.”

That seemed to snap some sense back into Kagami. The red head rolled his eyes, annoyance plainly shown. Picking up the basketball, the red head left the court as well. Midorima could swear that Kagami had just muttered, “Why the hell am I surrounded by arrogant idiots?” along the way but he could’ve been imagining it.

The three teens waited for a few minutes before finally escaping the thorny bush, Midorima pondering what just conspired in this match and how this’ll affect later future events.

One thing was for sure though, Kagami found his team.

The question is though, will the teens be the team Kagami needs to beat Aomine?

* * *

 

**Thank you for waiting so patiently! Please review on the way out.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jesus Christ on fiddlesticks. This chapter took a while. Thank you again for your patience! This chapter, god, I struggled through it. It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten into Kuroko no Basket and I felt really bad for the really long update and this is shorter than usual too. I’m so tired. Just, gone. And for those of you who keep complaining over my slow updates, I apologize. Also, I said quite clearly that I will tell you all if I’m not continuing a story. I have no plans on quitting and even if I were, I would tell you. So please, stop questioning whether or not I’m continuing or not.

_Aomine was aware of the terrified looks he was receiving from his teammates but honestly didn’t care._

_Today was the day of the finals. The day he got to face off Kagami and Tetsu. The very thought made him vibrate in his seat in the bus, face unable to stop grinning like a lunatic no matter how hard he tried. Anticipation and excitement was pumping through his veins, eyes alight and burning with passion._

_Satsuki was sitting next to him, rolling her eyes in fond exasperation before she finally swatted him over the head. The sudden attack jolted him out of his thoughts, causing him to involuntarily yelp as his hand automatically rubbed the stinging sore spot the she-devil caused._

_“Satsuki!” he barked out, his voice trailing into a whine that made the manager shake her head._

_“Dai-chan, stop scaring the first years. It’s unbecoming for a captain to not keep a cool head.” She rattled out. Aomine scowled._

_“Like I give a fuck about that. It’s_ Seirin _.” He smirked smugly in her direction. “And it’s kinda hypocritical for you to say that so don’t nag. You’ve probably been up all night for last minute adjustment tactics, right?”_

_She huffed and turned her head with faux indignation, but notably didn’t refute his words. Aomine could tell just by looking at her that he had hit the bullseye._

_Satsuki: 0, Aomine: 1_

_Today was a good day._

_The agonizingly long bus ride finally came to a stop, the sound of tires screeching music to his ears. Grinning, he nearly jumped out of his seat and ran out._

_It was fortunate that he and Satsuki had chosen to sit at the front. Otherwise, he probably would’ve barreled through the bus without care who got in his way. He did, however, have enough courtesy to actually wait for Coach Harasawa – who was now talking with Satsuki in hushed voices, probably reviewing the data and plans Touou was going to use to crush Seirin – and the team._

_Couple years ago, he had always been the last one out of the bus. Hell, half the times, he didn’t even go to the games until halftime or after first quarter if the opponents seemed more interesting than usual._

_He felt a pang of shame at his own past actions. With the weight of captaincy on his shoulders, he grudgingly had to give points to Imayoshi for being so patient with him. Sometimes, he was tempted to murder the first years who still hadn’t gotten over their fear over him. It was a pain in the neck to have to explain that no, he wasn’t going to kill them in their sleep if they fumble or make mistakes, though he would be very displeased if they did._

_Or worse, the assholes who looked at him with contempt, refusing to respect him as a proper captain. The worst part was that they had every right to feel doubtful towards him. Any sane person would, including himself. He never would’ve imagined himself captain material. That always has been Akashi’s job, never his._

_But things have changed now. He didn’t want to disappoint anyone or himself, Wakamatsu and Imayoshi included._

_Not that he’ll ever tell that to either of those bastards. Ever._

_When they reached the state-of-the-art gym, it was completely packed. The seats were nearly spilling with spectators and fans, screams reverberating the walls like a sound wave explosion. Since middle school, he was long used to the pressuring stares and crowing that demanded a good game. His characteristic lazy gait was absent as he firmly walked toward the lockers, swatting away the noise like flies. With his back straight and his head held high, it was unmistakable to all the viewers that he was the captain of Touou._

_The team got ready in the locker room before heading out toward the familiar court, Aomine’s personal battlefield where he could let loose and be completely himself. The thought made him grin. Glancing around, he saw that the Seirin team was out too, practicing on the court before the game starts._

_Kagami wasn’t here yet – Aomine inwardly snorted at this, the idiot probably overslept again – and after carefully scouting the scene, he noted Tetsu wasn’t here either. Aomine shrugged off their absences, figuring they were arriving by now._

_Aomine rolled his shoulders and barked to the team to get ready and start practicing. Momoi was smiling and humming a tune, scribbling onto her notepad._

_The referee was blowing his whistle. Those two idiots were hitting it close._

_He waited._

_Five minutes._

_His leg jostled in impatience._

_Ten minutes._

_He looked up to where the clock was, checking the time._

_Fifteen minutes._

_He looked towards Satsuki, who was frowning in puzzlement as she too craned her head around in search of the duo. Aomine scowled, irritation starting to creep through the calm façade he was trying to hold up. Where the hell were they?_

_He shook his head._

_They’re coming. There’s no way they weren’t. Kagami had promised._

_He watched as someone from the bench jog towards the Seirin’s captain with a cell phone in one hand. Eyebrows furrowed, the brunette answered the phone, flipping it open and putting it to his ear-_

_CLANK!_

_The sound of the phone dropping seemed to deafen all the noises in the gym, the roaring crowds somehow distant when Aomine caught the frozen, horrified expression off of the third year’s face. From the stands, Aomine could make out the previous captain Hyuuga and Iron Heart from where they were sitting, along with the rest of the graduated upper classmen. Both college students glanced at each other with increasing worry before heading towards their former team, faces determined._

_The current captain snapped out of his reverie and hurriedly picked up the dropped phone with shaking hands that Aomine could discern even from here. Aomine felt dread plummet in his stomach, threatening to drown him in the suffocating feeling as he watched the scene unfold._

_The brunette was yelling out frantic words, the words sending the rest of the team in motion as dawning comprehension slapped onto their faces. The female coach was in tears, sending alarm bells in Aomine’s head._

_Satsuki was talking rapidly to Harasawa by now before heading over to the panicking team._

_The captain looking almost ready to cry was babbling something to Satsuki when she arrived and she-_

_Aomine’s thoughts faltered. Everything seemed to halt. Because Satsuki’s impenetrable mask broke into pieces and suddenly she was crying and_ shattering _right before his eyes, her face devastated and her mouth forming_ nonono _in quick succession-_

_Aomine bolted off the bench, ignoring the calls of Touou’s basketball team, his team, and ran towards Seirin like a speeding torpedo. When he reached there, Hyuuga was yelling desperately by now while Iron Heart’s expression was stricken, as if he just got slapped. Distantly, he saw the rest of the old Seirin members come down from the stands too, faces mystified and worried._

_“-What did he say Furihata? WHAT DID HE SAY?!” Hyuuga was shaking the kid’s shoulders, all fierceness and strength Aomine only ever saw from him gone, stark dread displayed plainly for the world to see. The brunette was quaking and was shaking his head as if in denial, disbelief and shock on his face._

_“H-He’s heading for th-there right n-n-now.” He stuttered out nonsensically. Aomine looked towards Satsuki, who hasn’t quit sobbing and looking so devastated that it twisted his heart to see her like this._

_This, this was_ wrong.

_Silently, he held her hand and pulled her into his chest, patting her back as he death glared at the team he was supposed to be playing against by now._

_“What the hell is going on? Where’s Kagami and Tetsu?” he snarled out, holding on to the broken girl who clung on to his jersey like a lifeline as she cried into his shoulder. He didn’t even care she was soaking his uniform._

_Iron Heart spoke up, his voice uncharacteristically quiet as his next words changed life itself forever._

_“Kagami just got into a car accident. And Kuroko... Kuroko was there when it happened.”_

**-A-**

Kagami cracked his neck and arms, stretching out the joints after sitting still for so long.

It was Saturday evening and he was just finishing up the hell-on-earth training schedule he has been working on since he came home on Friday, working nonstop and only taking bathroom breaks and downing cups of ramen like it was going out of style as he went through a sleepless night on tweaking the details here and there. Much to his satisfaction, he was almost done with the finishing touches and was quite satisfied with his efforts. Riko would’ve been proud if she saw his work.

However, this was only a draft for now. He’ll have to see for himself what his team needed to work on. He planned on setting up a practice soon to inspect his chosen players. Hopefully, there wouldn’t be too much he needed to work on. From what he saw of Miyazaki’s plays, the teen was an above average player, his methods ruthless and not afraid to take risks.

Kagami grinned to himself. The guy was strong, not just in skills but also mentally too. Other than the crippling bitterness that cloaked his being, he was tough and had refused to give up even when it was clear Kagami was leagues better than him. It was a trait one needed when facing against a Miracle. Training him was going to be a quite satisfying venture if he succeeds.

That is, if his stubborn attitude doesn’t interfere in Kagami’s attempts at teaching him in the first place. If Sato was as skillful as Miyazaki, or at least close to it, they would have a fighting chance at beating Aomine at his own game. He just had to bring out their potential the best way he can.

That was definitely going to be a challenge. Well, at least Kagami had made some groundwork with Miyazaki, which was better than nothing.

Glancing at the time, he was startled to realize it was seven at night. He’s literally been working for more than twenty four hours straight. He thanked Kami that it was Sunday tomorrow. He can catch up on his lack of sleep then.

Getting up from his chair, he stretched out his legs and headed towards the bathroom, planning on taking a shower before heading out for some food and long overdue fresh air. Twenty minutes later along with a change of clothes, Kagami was locking the apartment door behind him and going down the stairs.

Stepping out of his apartment, he strode down the sidewalk, enjoying the breeze that playfully followed him. The cool wind was refreshing after being stuffed in his bedroom like a hermit for more than a day. Walking down a few blocks, he nearly smiled when Magi Burger came up around the corner from his right. When he first discovered the place a week ago, he had burst out laughing on the spot, scaring away some passersby he was sure.

 _Of course_ Magi Burger would be the one constant in his life. Fifteen years had never changed that.

Entering in the establishment, he stopped dead in his tracks when a familiar mop of sky blue hair met his sights, a beacon that drew all his focus towards it. Swallowing, Kagami was tempted to just leave right then and there.

Shit. He wasn’t ready for this. He should scram, before the guy caught him staring-

Kagami cut off the thought process, shoving his panic into the deep recess of his mind.

He will not run away. He will _not_. This was Kuroko damn it, there’s no need to be scared.

_Yeah right._

Taking a deep breathe, he tore his gaze away from his old best friend and went up to the counter to get his usual mountain of burgers. He barely paused when he also ordered a vanilla milkshake, extra large. Exhaling and forcing his shoulders to be less rigid, he pasted on a collective mask and went straight up to Kuroko’s table before flopping himself down on the seat in front of the teenager. Looking straight forward, he nodded a greeting to the startled, slightly wide eyed Kuroko.

“Yo.”

There. Simple, easy, and uncomplicated.

He prayed it would stay that way.

Kuroko recovered quickly from the sudden intrusion and cautiously nodded back at him politely. Kagami felt a bit of childish triumph through his cloud of anxiety when he depicted the bewilderment Kuroko was struggling to hide behind his deadpan expression. After all the times Kuroko had barged into Kagami’s meals like a silent apparition, the guy deserved to have a taste of his own medicine.

“Greetings Kagami-kun.” Kuroko said in a much more soft tone than Kagami was used to. Kagami waved a hand in his direction flippantly.

“Kagami is fine you know. All this formality is stuffy to me.”

“Nevertheless, this is the first time we have met since... Thursday, Kagami-kun.”

 _‘Since you challenged my partner so dramatically, excluding thunder striking in the background.’_ Was the somewhat skewed translation to Kuroko’s pause.

Kagami snorted and started to unwrap one of the burgers. Kuroko watched him with dead-fish eyes and quietly sipped his milkshake.

“Is Kagami-kun really going to eat all that?” Kuroko asked just as Kagami chomped onto the burger. Kagami barely chewed and outright swallowed the bite before shrugging. The red head had to hold back the urge to tease Kuroko when he saw him inch back just a bit away from him in well-concealed disgust.

“Yeah, this is actually my first proper meal in...” he frowned, counting back the hours of when he last ate a cup of ramen. “Twelve hours.”

Kuroko’s eyes widened just a fraction, which was equivalent to barely withheld shock. Seeing this, Kagami snorted.

“Don’t start. I’ve been busy, that’s all.”

“That does not make it okay for you to skip meals, Kagami-kun. It’s unhealthy.” Kuroko said, voice slightly sharp in reprimand.

“To each his own.” Kagami shot back. “Besides, you’re not exactly the epitome of healthy, don’t you think? With how skinny you are, I’m guessing you didn’t even eat dinner yet, did you?”

“I only come here for the milkshakes.” Kuroko defended. Kagami narrowed his eyes shrewdly.

“That’s not a no.”

Both glared at each other – well, as much as Kuroko was capable of glaring anyway – for a long moment before Kagami finally sighed and tossed one of his burgers in Kuroko’s direction. Startled, the blue haired teen caught it deftly, staring dubiously at the item before looking at him questioningly. Scoffing, Kagami slid the large milkshake across the table towards Kuroko and jerked his head at him.

“Eat. The wind can knock you over if you only drink that. Take it and I promise I won’t starve myself again in the near future. Deal?” he proposed gruffly. Kuroko blinked before offering a small smile in return that made Kagami’s chest pang in remembrance to Kuroko’s much older counterpart.

“Agreed.”

The two drifted into comfortable silence Kagami was used to as they finished up their respective burgers. By the time Kuroko ate his share, Kagami had finished more than half his stack, his pace dwindling down so he could digest the fast food better. No need to give himself a stomach ache.

During this period of calm, Kagami observed his friend and noted how young he looked. The stress lines that have accumulated over the years weren’t present, which made him feel just a bit guilty. Kuroko had turned into a mother hen ever since his accident, fretting and scolding him and constantly worrying about him and his health. Despite Kagami’s many protests, Kuroko had followed him to his mediocre college and used his family’s name in order to bunk in the same room with him. While this had annoyed Kagami to no end, he had been touched but wary of the phantom player’s excessive actions and didn’t argue too much over it. He knew it was Kuroko’s way of coping with the situation and he wasn’t about to take that away from him.

That did not, however, stop Kagami from doing the same to Kuroko. With how stressed Kuroko was becoming, Kagami had feared over the very real possibility of Kuroko collapsing due to exhaustion from how dismissive he was over his own well-being. A lot of shouting matches happened due to Kagami’s frustration and helplessness to help Kuroko, who insisted he didn’t matter next to Kagami’s needs.

It had taken every bit of Kagami’s self-control to not rattle the teen’s shoulders until he dislocated them when Kuroko had said this in a factual, completely convinced tone. Instead, he had done the next best thing.

He tattled to their former-captain Hyuuga and the Coach.

It was the first and last time Kagami ever saw Kuroko look so pale and pissing-his-pants full on terrified when he faced the formidable duo’s wrath, his limited man-pride crippled for good once the senpais were done with him.

Ah, good times.

Kagami polished off his last burger and cleaned the grease off his fingers with his napkins. Kuroko watched him silently in that timeless gaze of his. Kagami grunted and jerked a head in the burger’s direction.

“So, is it good?”

Kuroko nodded.

“Yes. Thank you Kagami-kun.”

Kagami couldn’t help but notice that though he said his name with the same impassive face and voice and use of –kun at the end of his name, the way he talked felt so _impersonal_. Too polite.

A part of Kagami wretched at the loss of the friendship he had with the phantom player. Years of experiences and smiles disappearing like a whiff of smoke as if it never happened, the iron bond they shared simply gone.

Kagami turned his head to the side to drink his soda, making sure to not let Kuroko see the light glaze over his red eyes, blinking slowly to hold back the threatening liquid from falling. Managing out a smothered grunt of acknowledgement, he quickly wiped his eyes when Kuroko glanced downward to sip his vanilla shake. Clearing his suddenly clogged throat, he vaguely waved a hand toward the sky blue haired teen’s direction.

“So, why the hell are you moping around here for? Shouldn’t you be with that friend Aomine of yours? You know, make battle plans?” he did a good job covering up the slight bitterness he felt toward the ganguro for having the friendship he has lost. Something quicksilver passed in Kuroko’s eyes before the teen glanced away from Kagami.

“Aomine-kun is not making ‘battle plans’ Kagami-kun. He feels that he has no reason to.” The subtle sadness left Kagami surprised before he inwardly slapped himself, feeling very stupid indeed.

How could he forget? This was the time period when Kuroko was most worried for the idiotic Aomine, not the time of sunshine and daisies. And here he was being envious of the ganguro of all people.

Way to be the mature adult.

So with little effort, he managed to put up an offended front. It wasn’t a hard feet since the thought of Aomine thinking he was better than him was more than a little irritating.

“Well, that’s not insulting at all.” He said sarcastically. Much to Kagami’s satisfaction, the grim set line of Kuroko’s mouth twitched upward just a bit at his response.

“I’m not implying you are bad in basketball Kagami-kun. Aomine-kun is just better than everyone else.” Kuroko’s eyes lowered a bit, voice turning a bit dull. “He has no equal on court.”

“You don’t believe that.” Kagami stated bluntly, not even phrasing it as a question. Kuroko hesitated before nodding seriously.

“Yes, I truly believe that someone will one day show he is not alone on court.”

“But _why_ does he think he’s alone?” Kagami demanded, somewhat exasperated.

It still didn’t really make sense to him. For the love of Kami, Aomine has _Momoi_ and a team backing him up _including Kuroko_ , and yet thinks he has no support, no reason to pull himself together. Isn’t for the sake of his team enough reason to not give up? Or did the other Miracles just leave him alone and hoped for the best? Because if that’s the case, Kagami really needs to have a talk with Akashi and the Teikou coach because this was just beyond outrageous.

When Kagami had grown too strong for his own good, Seirin didn’t leave him alone for a second. Hyuuga always gave gruff encouragements and told him to suck it up and stop moping around. Kiyoshi’s oddly placed optimism and sage advice comforted him when he needed it. Mitobe stood by him in silent support and shared recipes with him with Koganei excitedly translating everything all the while. Izuki distracted him by telling him pun after pun until Kagami was too irritated to think about his problems. Furihata, Kawahara, and Fukuda were never jealous of his skills and included him in bemoaning over their senpais’ no-mercy attitudes.

And Kuroko pulled him back with bulldozing determination with indomitable sky eyes that screamed he will never give up on him. Never again. That alone gave Kagami enough strength to not fall.

Because he wasn’t an idiot, unlike a middle-schooled version of Aomine. High school wasn’t the end, and there were still the Miracles to face. The whole world was in front of him just waiting to be challenged and Kagami wasn’t going to back down from that.

He became the best player in Japan, just like he promised. Why not go even further? At least, that’s what he finally concluded to himself anyway.

With that goal in mind, his worries dissipated in the face of Seirin’s basking warmth, and Kagami will always be grateful for that.

Kuroko tilted his head thoughtfully. “I suppose it’s because he thinks no one can understand him. And to a degree, he’s right. None of the other members love basketball the way he does, so nobody can completely know where he’s coming from.” His mouth twisted in slight cynicism Kagami wasn’t used to seeing from him. “I certainly can’t relate, for I’m not an amazing player like the others-”

Without thinking, Kagami slammed a fist onto the table, drawing some alarmed looks from the other customers. Kuroko nearly jumped out of his seat at the sudden, abrasive action, face bewildered.

 _“That’s not true.”_ Kagami exclaimed vehemently. Kuroko’s eyes widened at his urgent tone and flaring eyes that dared him to argue. Kagami ignored it, hands clenching tightly in outrage by Kuroko’s self-deprecating words.

“You’re amazing! I heard from Midorima about your playing style. I could never play so selflessly like that. I have a lot of respect for you. What you do is important, something that you should be proud of. So don’t you dare downplay it, got it?” he snarled with absolute conviction.

Kuroko stared at him, a mix of emotions swimming in his blue eyes. There was disbelief, bafflement even, at the words the red head was spouting out, someone who he barely knew at all. There was doubt to be sure, unconvinced by Kagami’s sentiment, but some other emotion grew too, much to Kagami’s fierce jubilation. The dam has cracked, a glimmer of cautious hope in his teal eyes, intense and bright in its brilliance.

“Kagami-kun.” Kuroko said his name softly, yet the fire of aspiration wasn’t dying out but steadily growing, making the phantom player sit straighter in his chair. “Why did you challenge Aomine-kun?”

Kagami smirked, blood red eyes gleaming with bloodlust.

“To knock some sense into him of course. I don’t like how he plays, and I’m going to change that if it’s the last thing I do.” Kagami shrugged loftily, confident. “Beside, he pisses me off. It would do him some good to be put down a peg or two.”

He does not plan to run away or to lose. Because no task, no matter how daunting, would ever make him back down. It just wasn’t in his nature to give up so easily. Because if he didn’t play, there would be consequences that the future just couldn’t afford. Because he couldn’t turn his head away from Aomine’s, _his friend’s_ , behavior and that’s final. End of story.

Kuroko ducked his head down, his mouth twitching almost invisibly upwards at the end. Kagami grinned at the sight.

“I see.” Kuroko’s tone was full of familiar steel. The teen looked up again to Kagami, face resolute. Kagami rather liked the determination that was burning in the teen’s sky blue eyes. “Then I, too, will do my very best to help you Kagami-kun. If you’ll have me of course.”

Kagami snorted and barked out a short laugh. A vicious grin overtook his features, making him look every bit as terrifying as a predator on the loose.

“Be my guest. I have a feeling you probably won’t take no for an answer. Besides, he’s _your_ best friend. If anyone has the right to beat the crap out of him, it’s you.” Kagami shook his head, still chuckling, and stood up from his seat while carrying his tray of trash. Glancing back, the red head’s face softened just a touch.

“The bastard is pretty lucky to have a friend like you. Don’t give up on him. I’ve been where he is, and it isn’t a good place. Stick by him and make sure he knows he’s not alone.”

Kuroko’s blank face loosened in surprise before quickly smiling back at him, expression faintly thoughtful.

“You’re a very strange person, Kagami-kun.” He stated, blunt as a brick. Kagami spluttered a bit at the sudden comment, which only seemed to increase the phantom’s amusement. “Good night Kagami-kun. And good luck.”

Warmth that had been absent from the beginning of the conversation seeped into his monotone voice, making him sound more sincere and less like a polite acquaintance.

Kagami snapped out of his fit at the encouragement – which was equivalent to raucous cheering coming from Kuroko – and nodded.

“Yeah. You too Kuroko.”

And on that note, both went on their separate ways, hearts feeling lighter on both sides.

**-A-**

Kise hummed a silly tune under his breath as he strode over to Kagami’s classroom, eager to talk to a certain red head.

It was Monday during lunch time, the weekday after Kagami’s impromptu match with Miyazaki Shino. Kise still couldn’t believe Kagami did what he just did. It was so ballsy and reckless and...

Actually, now that he thought about it, his actions did kind of fit his profile.

Kise smiled to himself. Ever since Kagami came to Teikou, he felt that the presence of the new student was changing things. Call it a gut instinct, but it was as if a new path has opened itself from Kagami’s rather forceful involvement. Whether the alterations were good or bad was still undecided. Either way, Kagami was at the center of the hurricane and Kise wasn’t going to miss the show for the world.

Reaching the empty classroom – the room was always empty during lunch these days, people consciously avoiding the place like the plague ever since Kagami scared them off – Kise entered in, expecting to find Midorima bickering with the red head again.

(He still found it hilarious how short tempered the shooter was with the transfer student. The superstitious teen snapped at Kagami more than Aomine and Murasakibara put together, something he hadn’t thought was possible. Midorima seemed incapable of ignoring Kagami, getting himself worked up despite himself. Kise saw it as Midorima becoming freer with his emotions instead of staying stoic and cold like before.

Despite all this, Kise could tell that Midorima genuinely liked Kagami. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have bothered to pay attention to Kagami in the first place.)

Plastering a charming – annoying – grin on his face, he strolled into the room merrily.

“Hey Kagami-cchi! How are yo- _Holy crap!_ What happened to _you?!_ ”

Kise felt the brunt of Kagami’s glare and reflexively winced at the look. With his tired, bleary crimson eyes and the irritating twitch spasming his eyebrow, the deathly stare was more menacing than usual, an accomplishment in on itself.

“Shut up Kise, I know I look terrible. Thank you _very_ much for reminding me.” He growled out sarcastically. Much to the blonde’s concern, the red head’s scathing retort sounded half-hearted at best, exhaustion clear in his tone.

“What did you _do_?” Kise demanded, frantic and panicking at Kagami’s state of health.

“The idiot overdid himself.” A low voice interjected.

Kise turned to see Midorima heatedly glaring in Kagami’s direction, attention away from the book he was reading, expression clearly disapproving. Kagami grunted and buried his head deep into his folded arms on the desk, blocking any sunlight from reaching his eyes from the classroom window.

Kise furrowed his brows.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Apparently, the imbecile didn’t sleep for two days straight for a reason he _still_ refuses to tell me.” Midorima’s glare intensified, accusation jabbing and unmerciful. Kise was horrified.

“What?! That’s crazy!”

“Not crazy.” Came Kagami’s muffled response, head still down. “Now shut up. I’m trying to sleep.”

“Not until you tell me why the hell you did something so stupid.” Midorima sounded actually angry. Kise could even detect something close to lingering worry in the teen’s spring green eyes.

The threat loomed heavily. Kagami must’ve felt it because after a few seconds of despondence, the red head reluctantly lifted his head up to give a tired, exasperated look in Midorima’s direction. A few minutes of tense silence occurred between them before Kagami finally sighed in defeat, reaching for his bag and pulling out a notebook in its depth. Carelessly shoving it to Midorima’s flummoxed hands, he shifted his position so that his head was facing the green haired shooter, hand holding up his head.

The red head raised one split eyebrow and jerked his head.

“Well? You gonna read or not?”

Midorima looked aggravated by the red head’s rudeness but surprisingly didn’t argue and simply flipped open the notebook, adjusting his glasses habitually as he began to read.

Kise did not miss the fact that Midorima’s temper seemed to have curbed a bit during these last few weeks, no doubt because of the transfer student’s influence paradoxically. Like he noted earlier, Midorima got more irritated easily, but genuinely angry?

No. It’s been quite a while since Kise last saw Midorima really lose his lid that periodically happened before along with cold indifference. Again, Kise couldn’t help but be fascinated by his teammate’s newfound friendship. It was _weird_ to see the usually no-nonsense teenager show more emotions around someone who wasn’t a Miracle, even degrading himself to squabble with the red head if it called for it. The thought made him involuntarily smile.

Kagami glanced at Kise, split brows furrowed with contortion.

“Anyways, what the hell are you even doing here Kise? Aren’t you busy running away from your rabid fangirls?”

“Kagami-cchi, that’s no way to talk about women.” Kise scolded.

Kagami scoffed, disbelieving.

“More like obsessive, fanatical carnivorous on crack. They’ll eat you alive if you’re not careful.” Kagami deadpanned.

Midorima let out a quiet snort at the corner, his eyes never leaving the paper to indicate he was listening in on the conversation. His green eyes were intense, narrowing more and more the further down he went. When Midorima finally looked up, there was a speculative and honestly astonished shine in his eyes.

“You made this?” the heavy, skeptical note in his voice made Kagami visibly bristle in offense before he snatched the notebook away from the teen.

“No need to sound so doubtful.” The red head sniped out. Apparently, a tired Kagami equaled to a shorter fuse.

Midorima shook his head, expression incredulous.

“What’s in the notebook?” Kise questioned curiously.

Kagami shrugged and tossed it to him, causing Kise to yelp and fumble for a moment. “See for yourself.”

Kise whined a bit but otherwise turned quiet as he too read whatever shocked Midorima.

He was surprised to see that it was a training schedule, a very neat one that went into explicit details. Kise’s eyes bulged at the ridiculous amount of exercises that was listed on the paper.

Laps every hour? Footwork, weights, and warmups? Full court games in _circulation_? _50_ shots for both two point and three point shots _each_?!

“Are you trying to kill them?!” Kise yapped out, wrenching his eyes off the paper to shoot the red head a horrified look.

“As much as I find it distasteful, I agree with the blonde idiot.” Midorima sounded disgusted with himself, something that wounded Kise into a sulking fit. “Though it is well thought out, I doubt this team of yours will agree to such an enormous amount of practice. This’ll probably take up way too much time.”

Kise had to privately agree at this. On closer inspection, he could tell that the regime was put into careful consideration, a few breaks in between some of the exercises so the players wouldn’t die any early deaths. And each exercise worked the body up to the point where it would equally build up a player’s stamina and skills. Midorima had a right to be impressed, this was a pretty thorough piece of work.

Wonderingly, the blonde wanted to question Kagami where he learned to create something like this because it’s just not possible for a fifteen year old to be able to produce this without experience or help.

He held back though. He had a feeling Kagami wouldn’t be forthcoming with the information and he didn’t want to ruin the tentative, friendly relationship he had with the red head. In Kise’s eyes, they were well on their way to being friends, something he was rather ecstatic about.

Kagami didn’t look concerned. In fact, if Kise didn’t know any better, the red head actually looked delighted by the prospect, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. He looked positively sadistic, red blood eyes glinting forebodingly.

Kise shivered, goosebumps on his arms. He could only imagine what nightmarish scheme the red head had up his sleeve.

A well of pity deep as the ocean elicited in Kise’s stomach. Those players were going to go through hell, he just knew it.

“Oh, that’s not gonna be a problem.” Kise had the overwhelming urge to hide under a rock and never come out at the wild excitement that slipped into Kagami’s tone. “They won’t dare when I’m finished with them.”

Midorima looked just as wary as Kise felt, his hand gripping onto his lucky item – gray earmuffs, even though it was the beginning of spring.

Kise was tempted to ask Kagami just what he was planning but thought better of it. It was probably best he didn’t know for the sake of his own sanity.

**-A-**

By the end of school, Kagami had managed to ask Coach Sanada if he could borrow one of the gyms to practice, just until he found another place for his team. Sanada had looked at him half suspiciously and half incredulously, as if he couldn’t believe Kagami was making such a bold request.

Kagami didn’t see what the problem was. Ridiculously enough, there was apparently an extra smaller gym none of the three strings used that was usually vacant. Kagami didn’t know why the school even had another gym in the first place – as if three wasn’t enough – but wasn’t complaining. It’ll serve its purpose well enough.

That was why Kagami was a bit surprised to be handed the keys straightaway, the calculative gaze never leaving him when he thanked the coach and left him be.

What a weird guy.

Then again, everyone in Teikou seemed like that.

Kagami gripped the key in his hand and unlocked the door in front of him. Pushing through, he found much to his pleasant surprise that the gym wasn’t half bad. A slightly smaller but normal sized gym that was well equipped in the storage closets he searched through. He dragged the balls out and was happy the find a huge, wheeled whiteboard he could use to hang up his plans.

Setting all this up, he nodded to himself in satisfaction and checked his watch.

They’ll be here any minute now.

The first one to arrive was surprisingly Yamamoto, the teen shuffling in and looking ready to pass out from pure anxiety. His head was bowed down and he didn’t seem to notice that Kagami was even in the room. Kagami made a note to himself to beat that nervousness out of him by the time the match came. Fear has no place on the court and would only mess with a person’s head.

Keeping this in mind, Kagami took a deep breath and broke the tension.

 _“Hey!”_ he barked out, his voice vibrating in the small gym.

Yamamoto startled badly at the sound of his voice, his head darting up before squeaking at the red head’s appearance. Mortified at the undignified sound that escaped him, the kid quickly bowed to him while flushing bright red, his hands wrangling the front of his shirt as he did so.

“K-Kagami-san! I-I apologize, I did not notice you.” He stuttered out, gaze skittering away from Kagami’s form.

Kagami prayed, _prayed,_ that he didn’t just recruit a Sakurai clone. _Please_ let that not be the case.

Letting out an aggravated breathe, Kagami marched up to the kid and snapped his fingers in front of Yamamoto, forcing the teen to look straight at him with wide, terrified eyes.

“Hey, none of that.” Kagami rumbled out. “If you’re going to talk, look at people in the eye. It’s disrespectful to not do it. And you’re not disrespecting me, _right?”_

The threatening note at the end of his question instantly made the second year fervently shake his head in denial, whole body screaming that he was ready to run for the hills. Kagami grunted and instinctively patted the kid’s head roughly, making the kid’s knees buckle from the sudden weight.

“Good. You volunteered to be here. If you can’t even handle looking at your opponents, than leave while you still can.”

The kid flinched from his words. Kagami felt a little bad about it but wasn’t going to take it back. It was the kid who initiated contact, not him, and that had to say something about the kid’s character. And Yamamoto had to know from the start that this wasn’t going to be easy, that he’s going to have to work for it if he wanted to play. Otherwise, he’ll just weigh down the team.

Much to Kagami’s pleasant surprise, Yamamoto visibly steeled himself right in front him before curtly nodding in assent, back straightening and eyes looking up.

“Yes coach.” The kid said, nervousness gone. Kagami, again, couldn’t help but react a bit from the title.

It’s been a damn long time since someone’s called him that and it was really weirding him out. This was not what he signed up for when he agreed to travel back in time. The realization hadn’t quite hit him that he technically was going to coach a team again until Miyazaki had offhandedly called him that a few days ago.

It was like the universe was laughing at him and everything was coming in full circle again. Kagami really didn’t know what to feel about that.

Waving away that thought, Kagami nodded and rewarded the kid with a small grin. Yamamoto looked dumbstruck by the look, much to Kagami’s amusement.

“I think you’ll do just fine.” Kagami remarked with approval, causing the brown haired teen to flush and duck down his head with something close to pleasure.

It was right at that moment when Miyazaki came bursting in, all swagger and hunched shoulders that practically screamed moody teenager. There was a bored look on his face as his sharp grey eyes took in the gym and finally landed on Kagami and Yamamoto. A sneer curled his lips at the sight of the mousy teen, making Yamamoto immediately start to look down with fear.

Like _hell_ Kagami was going to let that happen.

Without any subtlety whatsoever, Kagami stomped on Yamamoto’s foot right in front of Miyazaki.

The second year yelped at the sudden crushing pain and swiped his foot away from Kagami’s. He threw Kagami a look of complete bewilderment mixed with pain. At the corner of his eye, Miyazaki’s expression was plain disbelieving from Kagami’s blatant action.

Kagami ignored the taller teen and simply glared at Yamamoto, flaming red eyes daring him to even _think_ about disregarding what Kagami just told him _not_ to do with his very own future teammate. Yamamoto faltered at the look, hesitation lining his frame before something seemed to click and resolution lighted the kid’s brown eyes.

Without doubt now, Yamamoto turned to face Miyazaki squarely in the face, expression determined and refusing to back down.

A flash of surprise passed Miyazaki’s face, eyes narrowing and flickering back and forth to Kagami and Yamamoto before he finally nodded with something close to respect at the previously fearful teen. There was a contemplative look on his face, as if he was seeing something Kagami for the life of him couldn’t depicture.

“So,” Miyazaki surprisingly spoke out first roughly, one hand languidly scratching the back of his loosely ponytailed head. “I’m guessing you’re the point guard?”

Yamamoto looked startled at being so directly addressed – clearly nobody has ever paid any real attention to the kid if he was this shocked by it – and joltingly nodded with wide eyes. Kagami simply stayed in the background, interested in watching both teens interact.

“Y-Yes.” The kid swallowed, curiosity plain on his face. “How did you know?”

Miyazaki rolled his eyes and jerked his head in Yamamoto’s direction.

“You’re pretty short, and there aren’t many positions that don’t have height requirements. Also, you reacted well when I came in so you’re quick on uptakes and on your feet if the way you got your foot out of four-eyebrows hold is any indication. Also, you have a pretty good read on people with the way you reacted to me and knew exactly what the idiot wanted you to do.” Miyazaki rapidly analyzed, oblivious to the fact Yamamoto was practically gaping at him at this point from his impressive observation skills.

And while Kagami too was impressed, he was too busy being irritated to appreciate it fully.

“Who are you calling an idiot and four-eyebrows you brat.” Kagami growled in annoyance. Miyazaki shot him a scathing glare.

“If you can’t figure out I’m talking about you, you’re slower than I thought.” The fucking _kid_ quipped out. “And _don’t_ call me brat. We’re the same damn age.”

“I’ll call you whatever I like _brat._ ” Kagami smirked smugly at the glower that was growing on Miyazaki’s face.

Until it him that he was arguing like a fucking teenager. _Again._

Kagami’s mood instantly soured at the thought and embarrassment started to make way back into his senses again. God damn it, he _hated_ being an adolescent again.

Scowling, he shook his head and ignored the odd looks he was receiving for his switch of attitude.

He really needed to get a hold of himself. He was supposed to be the responsible adult here. He couldn’t fall back on familiar patterns just because the teen reminded him of Aomine.

He was interrupted from his thoughts when the doors slammed open with a bang, someone whooping in excitement reaching his ears.

Wang Bao Zhi eagerly looked around the room with a manic grin that was already giving Kagami a headache. He knew with utter certainty that the Chinese was going to be a handful.

Judging from Yamamoto’s slightly apprehensive look and Miyazaki’s disgruntled disgust, Bao Zhi’s first impression to them was probably already ruined.

“Hello everybody!” the dark haired teen said loudly before letting out a booming laugh that seemed to vibrate the very gym. “I’m Wang Bao Zhi! I’m a small forward and am looking forward to playing with all of you! It’s very nice to meet you!”

Kagami wondered how the hell he was yelling all this in exclamation points. Sighing inwardly and bracing himself for impact, Kagami made himself be heard.

“Glad you could make it.” He said honestly. Because no matter how loud the teen was, he still had volunteered to join Kagami’s team and that in itself was something Kagami wasn’t going to ignore.

Bao Zhi’s beaming face was nearly blinding like Christmas lights when he saw him. Scrambling towards him with all the grace of an excited dog, the kid didn’t even hesitate to take Kagami’s hand and shake it with vigor like last time, the whirlwinding motion already making Kagami’s arm ache.

“Thank you so much for this opportunity! I will do my very best! And that’s a promise!” he loudly declared.

“Great.” Kagami removed his hand from the Chinese’s strangling grip and massaged it back to life. “You better be prepared for hell then.”

His last sentence seemed to pause the atmosphere in the gym, everybody looking at him with well-deserved wariness. Even Bao Zhi seemed to sense the ominous tone in that sentence if the slightly less boisterous, uneasy laugh said anything.

“I could totally handle it!” the kid claimed not so confidently. Miyazaki was shooting him narrow eyed looks in the back and Yamamoto was quaking in his sneakers. They weren’t nearly scared enough.

Kagami couldn’t help but give an animalistic grin that promised pain and torture in the very near future. Everyone collectively shivered at the expression.

“We’ll see.” Kagami simply said. After all, they haven’t seen the rolled up schedule yet.

And that was the moment when Sato arrived in the gym.

Out of all the other team members, his entrance was the most normal. He pushed open the door like a normal person and strode in, his ever present smile plastered on his face.

That is, before he spotted Miyazaki in the room.

The smile dropped and complete and utter shock enveloped the teen’s entire being. Something close to vulnerability and disbelief was shining in his gaze, as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. It was like his world views were collapsing and he was right in the midst of it, having no idea how to react.

 _“Miyazaki?”_ he blurted out with stunned reverie, an overwhelming amount of emotions curled up in that one name.

Miyazaki’s mouth twisted with something close to discomfort, face hardened against Sato’s emotional response.

“So, I was right.” Miyazaki glared at Kagami with some anger. “He did drag you into this.”

“Actually, it was Amaya.” Kagami corrected, which seemed to surprise the tall teen before he let out a huff of something close to a laugh.

“That guy huh? Should’ve figure. After all, Sato here was always kind of spineless.”

That seemed to snap Sato out of it. The teen wildly darted his eyes to Kagami, looking so lost and panicked that it would’ve been amusing if it weren’t so heartbreaking.

“You-when-what-” the usually composed teen fruitlessly grasped for words before finally giving up and settling on one. _“How?”_

“I beat him in a one-on-one match. Now stop acting like you’ve seen a ghost and let’s get to work.” Kagami snapped. The two of them could deal with their own problems later. This wasn’t his business and Miyazaki looked uncomfortable enough for the both of them. Besides, Kagami doubted having a very confused audience was something either of the teens wanted.

Sato looked ready to argue before reluctantly stopping himself, eyes drawing itself almost magnetically towards Miyazaki’s and seemingly still reeling from the other teen’s presence.

Kagami sighed. Barely a day and already there was a soap opera in the making before him.

_Teenage fucking drama._

He definitely hadn’t missed that part of growing up. _Again._

Praying for patience, Kagami continued on, knowing this wasn’t going to be the end of it.

“Welcome to the first day of hell kiddos.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know. I KNOW. It’s shorter than usual, I get it. Just (sigh) I kind of forced my muse for the last section, okay? I am so drained right now. Please please forgive me!
> 
> Please review on the way out.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. If the characterization was off, tell me. This is my first time writing a KnB fic.  
> Please review on the way out.


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